Iranian Businessmen Sue OFAC for Sanctioning Them

Two Iranian businessmen sanctioned by the U.S. said they were illegally targeted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and asked the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to vacate their designations. Behzad Ferdows and Mehrzad Ferdows, residents of Germany and Iran, said in a Nov. 5 lawsuit that OFAC violated “constitutional norms,” statutory requirements and failed to follow due process when the agency sanctioned both men in September.

The two men were sanctioned (see 2009210038) for being shareholders of Mammut Industrial Group, which OFAC said provided support to Iran’s ballistic missile programs. But OFAC “failed to provide any supportable factual basis” that either man “engaged in sanctionable conduct,” the lawsuit said. OFAC also failed to provide both men with “prior notice,” they said, because the men and Mammut Industrial Group were sanctioned in the same announcement.

“Indeed, in their rush to take aggressive action against Iran, [OFAC] exhibited a total lack of care and concern for the facts of this case and have leveled unsubstantiated accusations at the Plaintiffs, which -- even if accepted as true -- would still not demonstrate that Plaintiffs engaged in sanctionable behavior,” the lawsuit said.

The men also have not been able to respond to OFAC allegations because the agency’s decision to impose sanctions “has been obscured,” they said. The lawsuit said OFAC has not released any information “regarding the basis for the designation other than the legal criterion under” executive order 13382, which authorizes sanctions against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters.

Both men disputed that they are heavily involved with Iranian missile programs. “In undertaking its designation action, Defendants falsely and arbitrarily claimed that Plaintiffs are ‘key actors’ in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiffs have had their good names tied, falsely and arbitrarily, to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

The sanctions are “shattering their livelihood and reputation,” they added. Both have “substantial connections” to the U.S., including properties, and “frequently” travel there. “Plaintiffs’ designations have left them international pariahs,” the lawsuit said, “as transactions or dealings with them anywhere in the world and by any person, company, or bank could expose those parties to sanctions.” OFAC did not comment.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the lawsuit.