United States v. Abdelkader Helmy, United States of America v. James E. Huffman

951 F.2d 988, 92 Daily Journal DAR 900, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1192, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 565
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 21, 1992
Docket89-10659, 89-10662
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 951 F.2d 988 (United States v. Abdelkader Helmy, United States of America v. James E. Huffman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Abdelkader Helmy, United States of America v. James E. Huffman, 951 F.2d 988, 92 Daily Journal DAR 900, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1192, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 565 (9th Cir. 1992).

Opinion

GOODWIN, Circuit Judge:

Defendants-Appellants Dr. Abdelkader Helmy and James E. Huffman appeal their respective sentences. Helmy appeals his sentence of forty-six months in prison, a fine of $358,690.00, and a three year period of supervised release following his guilty plea to a one count violation of the Arms Export Control Act (“A.E.C.A.”), 22 U.S.C. § 2778. Huffman appeals his sentence of forty-one months in prison, a fine of $7,500, and a three year period of supervised release following his guilty plea to a one count violation of conspiracy to export munitions items without the required license, 18 U.S.C. § 371. We affirm Helmy’s sentence and vacate Huffman’s.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

A. Course of Proceedings

On June 9, 1989, Helmy pled guilty to illegally exporting 436 pounds of an ablative carbon composite fabric called MX-4926, a critical component in the construction of rocket nozzles, without a State Department license. On June 23, 1989, Huffman pled guilty to conspiracy to export MX-4926, an artificial rubber called HTPB, and two parabolic UHF band rocket antennae.

Both defendants were sentenced on December 5, 1989. The district court determined that both Helmy and Huffman deserved base offense levels of 22 because their crimes involved sophisticated weaponry. See United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) § 2M5.2 (1989). With respect to Helmy, the court gave him a three point upward adjustment for supervising a criminal activity involving five or more participants. The court also gave Helmy a two point downward adjustment for accepting responsibility, so that his final offense level was 23. Because Helmy had no prior criminal record, his criminal history category was I and his sentence of 46 months — in *991 addition to his fine and period of supervised release — was the shortest possible under the guidelines.

With respect to Huffman, the court gave him a three point upward adjustment for managing a criminal activity involving five or more participants and a two point downward departure for accepting responsibility. The court also reduced Huffman’s offense level by two additional points because it found that giving him three points for being a criminal manager overstated the seriousness of his involvement. Huffman’s total offense level was thus 21. Because Huffman had no criminal record, his criminal history category was I and his sentence of 41 months — in addition to his fine and supervised release — was in the middle of the guideline range.

B. Statement of Facts

In 1984, Egypt’s Ministry of Defense entered into an agreement with Iraq and Argentina to develop an intermediate range ballistic missile that would have a range and payload capacity similar to that of the Pershing missile. The missile, referred to as the Condor II, was to be funded by Iraq, tested in Argentina, and engineered by Egypt.

Helmy and Huffman first became acquainted in 1983 while Helmy was working for Teledyne, McCormick, Selph (“Tele-dyne”) as the chief scientist on a gun project and Huffman was the company’s midwest marketing representative. In July 1984, Helmy and Huffman went to Egypt, and Helmy arranged for Huffman to meet several Egyptian military officials. Khai-rat, the coordinator for the Condor II project and a colonel in the Egyptian military, talked with Huffman about purchasing inertial guidance systems for the Condor II. 1

In 1987 and 1988, Helmy and Huffman conspired to violate the A.E.C.A. and the Export Administration Act of 1979 (“E.A.A.”), 50 U.S.C. §§ 2401-20, by attempting to ship commodities on the United States Munitions List, 22 C.F.R. § 121.1 (1989), to Egypt without first obtaining export licenses. The commodities included, inter alia, MX-4926, HTPB, and parabolic antennae, all of which are important components of tactical missile systems. In addition to the conspiracy charges, the government claims that certain other materials were purchased by Helmy and flown to Egypt in various shipments.

In early 1988, Col. Khairat arranged to have $1,000,000 wired to Helmy’s California bank account to pay for the materials Helmy was purchasing. When Helmy was informed that the procurement effort was proceeding too slowly, he suggested using Huffman to help export the materials because of Huffman’s prior experience and earlier efforts on behalf of the Egyptian government. Helmy and Huffman reached an agreement whereby Helmy would cover all the expenses, and Huffman would receive 10% of the gross profits while Helmy would retain 5% of such profits. Huffman, in turn, would be responsible for ordering the materials and arranging for their transportation.

The government claims the shipping method used by Helmy and Huffman was specifically designed to circumvent United States customs laws. 2 By May 1, 1988, Huffman had contacted suppliers of the materials designated by Helmy (including MX-4926 and HTPB), obtained price quotations, and formulated a purchasing plan. Shortly thereafter, Huffman contacted De-Long, the owner of D & N Packing, about receiving, storing, and reshipping several items. Huffman never divulged the identity of the ultimate consignee, and he asked *992 that several items be consolidated into unmarked boxes and that chemical drums be painted black to conceal their identifying markings. When D & N Packing workers refused to paint over the labels, Huffman’s son did so. Huffman then mailed nine drums of chemicals aboard Egyptian military transports.

In coordinating the shipment of these materials, Huffman worked with members of the Egyptian Military Attache’s Office and the Egyptian Procurement Office (“EPO”). On June 1, 1988, Huffman went to Admiral Abd Elrahin Elgohary, the head of the EPO, to discuss further shipments. Elgohary pointed out the problems inherent in concealing the materials and shipping them without export licenses. After Huffman called Helmy to explain the problem, Helmy spoke with Elgohary and agreed to provide fraudulent invoices to cover the materials.

Helmy then contacted Col. Khairat to discuss the problem. Helmy explained that although Elgohary had tried to insist on export licenses, the desired items were controlled and could not be exported outside the United States. Helmy further stated that if government authorities knew that he was buying the desired items for export purposes, he would be incarcerated. Hel-my then explained to Col. Khairat the care he and Huffman had taken to conceal their exports.

Among the critical needs for the Condor II project was a large quantity of the carbon phenolic fabric MX-4926, which is manufactured by the Fiberite Corporation. Helmy intended to obtain this material for use in manufacturing the flexible rocket nozzles that the Condor II missile required for maneuverability.

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951 F.2d 988, 92 Daily Journal DAR 900, 92 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1192, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-abdelkader-helmy-united-states-of-america-v-james-e-ca9-1992.