Morris Co. Woman Admits To Selling Plane Parts To Iran: Feds

MORRISTOWN, NJ — A Morristown woman had admitted to selling $2 million worth of airplane parts to Iran, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Joyce Eliabachus, 52, from Morristown, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in connection to her role in an international smuggling ring that sent over $2 million in airplane parts to the country.

“Eliabachus and others allegedly ran an international smuggling ring that shipped $2 million in aircraft parts to multiple Iranian airlines, including a company that has provided financial, material, and technological support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said. “This arrest, which was made possible by a close collaboration between our office and our partners at Homeland Security Investigations and the Office of Export Enforcement, has snuffed out another source of funds and goods to overseas entities that may endanger our national and economic security.”

According to Carpenito, Eliabachus operated Edsun Equipments LLC, an aviation parts company out of her Morristown home. The company was part of a network that bought large amounts of airplane parts in America and used freight forwarding companies to ship them to companies in Iran.

Between May 2015 and October 2017, Eliabachus's company allegedly sent 49 shipments with over 23,000 airplane parts to Iran without the proper licenses. Several of the airlines Eliabachus sold parts to are designated by the U.S. government as posing a threat to national security, Carpenito said.

According to Carpenito:

Eliabachus used her company to finalize the purchase and acquisition of the requested components from the various United States-based distributors. She repackaged and shipped the components to shipping companies in the UAE and Turkey, where Larijani and other Iranian conspirators directed the components to locations in Iran.

In order to obscure the extent of the network’s procurement activities, Eliabachus routinely falsified the true destination and end-user of the aircraft components she acquired. She also falsified the true value of the components being exported in order to avoid filing export control forms, which further obscured the network’s illegal activities from law enforcement.

The funds for the illicit transactions were obtained from the Iranian purchasers, funneled through Turkish bank accounts held in the names of shell companies controlled by the Iranian conspirators. The money was ultimately transferred into one of Edsun Equipments’ accounts in the United States. The network’s creation and use of multiple bank accounts and shell companies abroad was intended to conceal the true sources of funds in Iran, as well as the identities of the Iranian entities who were receiving U.S. aircraft components.

Conspiring to violate sanctions against Iran carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Eliabachus is set to be sentenced on Sept. 24, 2019.