An Iranian-American engineer has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for trying to send sensitive U.S. military documents to Iran as part of his application to teach at state-run universities, The Associated Press reported on Friday.
Mozaffar Khazaee was sentenced Friday in a U.S. federal court in Hartford. Khazaee, 61, is an Iran native with U.S. citizenship who worked for U.S. defense contractors including jet engine maker Pratt and Whitney. He pleaded guilty in February to violating the Arms Export Control Act.
Prosecutors say he sought to export 1,500 documents containing trade secrets and 600 documents with sensitive defense technology.
Khazaee asked for leniency, writing in a letter to the judge from a Rhode Island detention center that he is remorseful. Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a 10-year sentence.