Singapore firm exec pleads guilty to Iran exports

AFP: A US citizen who was a director at a Singapore company pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to export aircraft parts to Iran in violation of a US trade embargo, prosecutors said.

NEW YORK (AFP) — A US citizen who was a director at a Singapore company pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to export aircraft parts to Iran in violation of a US trade embargo, prosecutors said.

Laura Wang-Woodford faces a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to 250,000 dollars, New York prosecutors said in a statement. She has also agreed to forfeit half a million dollars.

A director at Singapore-based Monarch Aviation Pte, she was charged with exporting restricted US aviation parts for a decade to Singapore and Malaysia, where they were illegally re-exported to Iran.

Wang-Woodford was arrested in December 2007 at the San Francisco airport after arriving from Hong Kong. Her husband, British citizen Brian Woodford, the chairman and managing director of Monarch, was also charged but is on the run.

"By illegally shipping US military components to Iran, Laura Wang-Woodford pursued profits at the expense of the security of her country and her fellow citizens," said US Attorney Benton Campbell.

"We will utilize all resources at our disposal to prevent the dangerous and illegal export of our military technology."