SHIPPER PLEADS GUILTY OF ILLEGALLY EXPORTING COMPUTER EQUIPMENT
Texas resident and shipper, Ihsan Elashyi, pled guilty in federal court to a charge of illegally exporting computer equipment to Saudi Arabia, violating a U.S. Commerce Department temporary denial order.
Elashyi also pled guilty to charges of credit card fraud, money laundering and wire fraud. His sentencing is set for Sept. 9.
Elashyi was founder and president of Tetrabal Corp., a Richardson, Texas-based company that sold and exported computer hardware, software, and telecommunications customers throughout the Middle East. In his guilty plea, Elashyi admitted that on Sept. 22, 2001, he willfully violated the temporary denial order.
Prior to creating Tetrabal, Elashyi was an employee at Infocom Corp. in Richardson where he was caught engaging in illegal exports of computer equipment to Libya and Syria.
An order temporary denying the export privileges of Elashyi was signed by the Commerce Department on Sept. 6, 2001.