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CEO of metals company jailed for illicit exports

Erdal Kuyumcu, the chief executive officer of Woodside, N.Y.-based Global Metallurgy, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison following his June 14, 2016 guilty plea for conspiracy to illegally export a controlled metallic powder to Iran.

   The chief executive officer of Woodside, N.Y.-based Global Metallurgy, Erdal Kuyumcu, was sentenced to 57 months in prison following his June 14, 2016 guilty plea to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by exporting specialty metals from the United States to Iran, the Justice Department said.
   Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana J. Boentes said the executive is “being held accountable for conspiring with others to send specialized U.S. technology – over a thousand pounds of metallic powder with nuclear and missile applications – to Iran via Turkey.”
   According to court documents, Kuyumcu, 45 years old and a U.S. citizen, conspired to export from the United States to Iran a metallic powder primarily composed of cobalt and nickel, without having obtained the required license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Chris Gillis

Located in the Washington, D.C. area, Chris Gillis primarily reports on regulatory and legislative topics that impact cross-border trade. He joined American Shipper in 1994, shortly after graduating from Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Md., with a degree in international business and economics.