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Texas Brothers Sentenced for Violating Export Laws
Posted: February 3, 2006
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Two brothers from a Dallas suburb have been sentenced to prison terms for shipping computer equipment to countries designated by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism.
Hazim Elashi and Ihsan “Sammy” Elashi were sentenced in a Texas federal court on January 25, 2006, for illegally shipping computers to Syria and Libya. Hazim Elashi, who has been held in custody on immigration charges since his arrest in December 2002, received a five and 1/2 year prison term. After his release in 18 months, he will face deportation. Ihsan Elashi was sentenced to a six year term, which will run consecutively with the four-year sentence he is presently serving for credit card fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and other export law violations.
Both men were convicted in July 2004 of conspiracy to violate the Export Administration Regulations and the Libyan Sanctions Regulations. Each of the brothers was also found guilty of conspiracy to file false Shipper’s Export Declaration forms. Libya was removed from the state sponsors list in October 2004.
Hazim and Ihsan Elashi, and their three brothers, Ghassan, Bayan and Basman, sold computer systems and provided Internet services, mostly to clients from the Middle East, from their business, InfoCom Corporation, in Richardson, Texas. All five brothers, as well as the corporation, have been convicted on related offenses. Ghassan, Bayan and Basman, previously convicted for aiding Hamas, will receive their sentence at a later date.
InfoCom was first raided by federal agents in September 2001, before the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to Department of Justice press release issued after the sentencing, “from 1997 to 2000, the brothers conspired to illegally ship, and did ship, computer goods to Libya and Syria, in violation of U.S. laws which restrict or prohibit the export of technology, goods or software to countries listed as state sponsors of terrorism as designated by the Secretary of State.”
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