Illegal trade charges against Norcross company end
3-year federal investigation
By Michael Weiss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
December 4, 1998
The indictments against a pair of Norcross-based exporters charged with
selling $600,000 worth of car parts to Iran in defiance of a U.S. embargo
wrap up one of the biggest cases of its kind in years, officials said.
Federal agents spent three years rooting through garbage in Norcross
and poring over bank records in Germany to build the case against Medhi
"Michael" Azarin of Atlanta and Farhad Azarin of Norcross, both
officials with Federal Parts International Inc.
Investigators say the pair--Michael, 58, owns the company, while nephew
Farhad, 33, is a manager there--shipped three huge containers of spare
parts to businesses in Tehran and tried to send a fourth that was intercepted
at the Savannah port by agents with the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau
of Export Administration, according to the 24-count indictment handed down
Wednesday.
The shipments and the return payments were routed through German banks
and ports in the United Arab Emirates in an effort to hide the true destination
from U.S. officials, according to the indictment.
There's no evidence that the Iranians planned to use the car parts for
military use, said Amanda DeBusk, assistant secretary for export enforcement
with the Commerce Department. But she said spare parts for American-made
products already in Iran, such as cars, trucks and airplanes, are among
the most coveted supplies.
Federal agents only handle a few such cases like this per year, Commerce
Department officials said. According to the department's Web site, only
one matter involving illegal sales to Iran--this one involving computer
technology--was settled in 1998.
"It's a big case for us," DeBusk said. "It was very complicated,
and our agents had to do very sophisticated work."
An informant tipped federal agents off to Federal Parts International,
housed in a red-brick business park on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
According to Michael Azarin, who was at work the day after the indictment,
Federal Parts is a family business with fewer than 10 employees. The company
buys goods from wholesalers and manufacturers, then ships them overseas,
Arazin said.
The company and both Azarins were charged with violating the embargo,
making false statements and money laundering, according to the indictment.
Neither Michael Azarin nor the company's lawyer, Larry Thompson, would
say much about the case except that the defendants plan to plead innocent
to all charges. "We intend to contest the charges vigorously, I
can say that," Thompson said.
