Ivy League-educated engineer faces sentencing in NY for violating Iran trade embargo

Engineer to be sentenced for Iran embargo charge

NEW YORK — A Princeton-educated man convicted of violating the Iran trade embargo after his family sent him millions of dollars is to be sentenced by a federal judge in New York.

Mahmoud Reza Banki (MAH’-mood REZ’-ah BAHN’-kee) is expected to learn his fate Monday from Judge John Keenan in Manhattan. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

Banki was convicted in June of violating the embargo and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The 34-year-old Banki was born in Tehran and is a U.S. citizen. He holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton.

His lawyers had said he had $3.4 million deposited into his bank accounts by family members and was unaware that an informal banking system let an equal amount of money move into Iran.