Reply #11: Canadian fined for exports to Cuba Strikes plea bargain

[JustTheFactsMan]

1994 sale of water purification equipment violated U.S. embargo

STEVE ECKARDT
CP
Saturday, February 28, 2004

The long-running case of Canadian businessperson James Sabzali, charged with violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba, came to a quiet close yesterday as he received a year's probation in exchange for pleading guilty to a single charge of "smuggling" several thousand dollars worth of supplies destined for the island.

... Sabzali had been charged with 75 counts of violating the 1917 U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy for sales of nearly $3 million worth of water purification supplies to Cuba. He faced a possible life sentence and a fine of more than $19 million.

Sabzali's conviction on the single charge of smuggling references his importation of goods in violation of U.S. law: in this case, re-export to Cuba by a U.S. business with which he was working. Prosecutors allowed the 45-year-old Canadian, a Philadelphia-area resident since 1996, to plead guilty to this new offence to avoid the automatic deportation required by all of the original charges.

... The original 76 charges - 32 of which were for sales made while Sabzali was living and working in Canada - brought a wave of objections about U.S. "extraterritorial measures" from Canadian editorialists and demonstrators, as well as two diplomatic protest notes from Ottawa.

Today's settlement has the Canadian salesperson admitting guilt for a 1994 transaction that occurred while he lived in Hamilton and was a self-employed Canadian businessperson.

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/story.asp?id=92378428-B8E4-4C8E-A1B1-20473247E1B3