WASHINGTON D.C.
A 42-year-old Singapore man was extradited to U.S. from Indonesia to stand trial on charges of taking part in a conspiracy that allegedly caused thousands of radio frequency modules to be illegally exported from U.S. to Iran, according to federal officials.
Sixteen of these devices were later found in unexploded improvised explosives in Iraq, officials said.
Lim Yong Nam, aka Steven Lim, 42, had been detained in Indonesia since October 2014 in connection with a U.S. request for extradition. He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance today.
Lim was indicted on June 23, 2010, and faces one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., one count of smuggling, one count of illegal export of goods from the U .S.to Iran, one count of making false statements to the federal government and one count of making false statements to law enforcement.
“Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have injured or killed thousands of military service members overseas,” said Homeland Security Assistant Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Sarah Saldaña. “The U.S.-made products Lim is accused of illegally exporting were found in several of the devices used against America’s war fighters. After a long investigative process, Lim is back on U.S. soil to answer for his actions.”
According to the indictment, these are the allegations:
- Lim and other defendants on Sept. 15, 2010, IEDs were the major source of American combat casualties in Iraq.
- The conspiracy alleged in the indictment involved radio frequency modules that have several commercial applications, including in wireless local area networks connecting printers and computers in office settings.
- These modules include encryption capabilities and have a range allowing them to transmit data wirelessly as far as 40 miles when configured with a high-gain antenna. These same modules also have potentially lethal applications.
- Notably, during 2008 and 2009, coalition forces in Iraq recovered numerous modules, all made by the same Minnesota firm, that had been utilized as part of the remote detonation system for IEDs.
- Between June 2007 and February 2008, Lim and others caused 6,000 modules to be purchased and illegally exported from the Minnesota-based company through Singapore, and later to Iran, in five shipments, knowing that the export of U.S.-origin goods to Iran was a violation of U.S. law.
- In each transaction, Lim and others made misrepresentations and false statements to the Minnesota firm that Singapore was the final destination of the goods.
- Similarly, Lim and others caused false documents to be filed with the U.S. government, in which they claimed that Singapore was the ultimate destination of the modules.
- At the time of these activities, Lim and others were allegedly communicating with one another about U.S. laws prohibiting the export of U.S.-origin goods to Iran.
- However, in November 2009, Lim told U.S. authorities that he had never participated in illicit exports to Iran.
- Also several of the 6,000 modules the defendants routed from Minnesota to Iran were later discovered by coalition forces in Iraq, where the modules were being used as part of IED remote detonation systems.
- In May 2008, December 2008, April 2009 and July 2010, coalition forces found at least 16 of these modules in unexploded IEDs recovered in Iraq, the indictment alleges.
The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Lim et al Superseding Indictment