LOS ANGELES
An Orange County man was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison for conspiring to buy and illegally ship high-end computer servers from the U.S. to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) and U.S. sanctions against Iran.
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton sentenced Johnny Paul Tourino, 69, of Dana Point. Tourino has agreed to forfeit approximately $2 million in seized funds.
The FBI, the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement, and IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter.
On March 3, Tourino pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate IEEPA, which controls and restricts the export of certain goods from the United States to foreign nations and U.S. sanctions against Iran.
According to court records, Tourino owned and operated Spectra Equipment Inc., a Laguna Niguel-based computer support and services company.
Between September 2015 and March 2017, Tourino negotiated the sale of five business-class computer servers valued at $2.1 million and attempted to send them to Iran for use by two Iranian financial institutions, Bank Mellat and Bank Keshavarzi.
In February 2017, when the manufacturer of the servers asked Tourino to identify the end-user, he falsely stated that the servers were being sold to a bank in Africa and “NOT going to Iran.”
Later that month, Tourino, through his lawyer, falsely represented to the manufacturer that the servers were going to Slovenia.
One week later, Tourino sent three checks to the manufacturer as partial payment for the servers.
After learning that the Department of Treasury had blocked funds from Iran that were to be used to pay for the servers, Tourino deleted his emails, contacted the Department of Treasury, and again falsely stated that the servers were not going to Iran and were destined for Slovenia.
According to court documents, in August 2015, Tourino previously brokered the sale of four business-class computer servers that were ultimately sent to Bank Mellat in Iran. Regarding these servers, Judge Staton noted, “The government cannot get back the 2015 servers.”
These servers offered high-level encryption, allowing the users to shield information from law enforcement detection.
“Defendant Tourino conspired to export restricted equipment to a foreign adversary illegally and took steps to conceal his activities to avoid law enforcement scrutiny,” said Donald Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Tourino’s activity violated U.S. economic and trade sanctions and, in the process, potentially aided an oppressive terrorist regime and put America’s long-term security interests at risk.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Takla of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Bradley Marrett of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case.