A former Cambridge man who pleaded guilty to using a Massachusetts-based front company to illegally share details of equipment destined for the United States military with people in Turkey is scheduled to be sentenced in a federal court in Boston Wednesday afternoon.
Arif Ugur, a Turkish national, was convicted of using a company he founded to fraudulently enter into contracts to supply the U.S. Department of Defense with various parts and components used by the military. The 53-year-old told federal officials that his company, Anatolia, was a domestic manufacturer and that parts would be made in the United States.
But instead of crafting the equipment at facilities here, Ugur shared “specifications and drawings of the parts with his co-conspirators in Turkey without a license” and also provided those co-conspirators with “unfettered access” to the Department of Defense’s entire online library of blueprints and specifications.
“The defendant’s crimes are serious, compromised U.S. national security, and harmed DLA (Defense Logestics Agency) and DOD (Department of Defense),” prosecutors wrote in sentencing documents, where they ask a judge to impose a three-year sentence and impose a $10,000 fine.
The parts and related technical drawings Ugur contracted to make for the Department of Defense — and did provide to the federal government — required a license to export. Ugur was charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act, wire fraud, and conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act.
Defense lawyers said Ugur agreed to a voluntary order of departure back to Turkey. He first came to the United States to study, and spent a large amount of his adult life living in the country, according to his lawyers.
Attorneys said Ugur does not “have the means to pay a fine of any amount” and has been imprisoned at the Wyatt Detention facility since his arrest on June 22, 2021. Ugur is asking for two years in prison, two years of supervised release, and no fine.
“He accepts responsibility for his crimes and recognizes the seriousness of his actions, although it was never his intention to harm the United States,” defense lawyers wrote. “He now understands the cost and potential damage that his crimes have caused. He hopes that his guilty plea and agreement to be deported show the court and the government that he sincerely regrets what he did.”
Violating the Arms Export Control Acts carries an up to 20-year sentence and $250,000 fine. Wire fraud also carries up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine. Conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act carries an up to five-year prison sentence and $250,000 fine.
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