Cinnaminson, NJ- Erdal Kuyumcu, CEO of Global Metallurgy LLC, a New York-based metals company has pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to conspiracy to export special to metals to Iran. Violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Kuyumncu has admitted to attempting to ship a controlled metallic power composed of cobalt and nickel, useful in warhead development.
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CEO of International Metallurgical Company Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Export Specialty Metals to Iran
Erdal Kuyumcu, 44, the CEO of Global Metallurgy LLC, a company based in Woodside, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in connection with the export of specialty metals from the United States to Iran.
The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers of the Eastern District of New York.
As detailed in the criminal information to which he pleaded guilty and other court filings, Kuyumcu, a U.S. citizen, conspired to export from the United States to Iran a metallic powder composed of cobalt and nickel, without having obtained the required license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The metallic powder can be used to coat gas turbine components, including turbine blades, and can be used in aerospace, missile production and nuclear applications. Such specialized metals are closely regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce to combat nuclear proliferation and protect national security, and exporting them without an OFAC license is illegal. Kuyumcu and others conspired to obtain over 1,000 pounds of the metallic powder from a U.S.-based supplier for export to Iran. To hide the true destination of the goods from the U.S. supplier, Kuyumcu and a co-conspirator arranged for the metallic powder to be shipped first to Turkey and then to Iran.
Kuyumcu pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry of the Eastern District of New York. At sentencing, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Assistant Attorney General Carlin joined U.S. Attorney Capers in thanking the FBI’s New York Field Office and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, New York Field Office.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiana A. Demas and Ameet B. Kabrawala of the Eastern District of New York, with assistance from Trial Attorney David Recker of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.