United States v. Mohammad Vaghari

500 F. App'x 139
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedOctober 4, 2012
Docket11-2648
StatusUnpublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 500 F. App'x 139 (United States v. Mohammad Vaghari) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Mohammad Vaghari, 500 F. App'x 139 (3d Cir. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

BARRY, Circuit Judge.

Mohammad Vaghari (“Vaghari”), an Iranian citizen who resided in Pennsylvania prior to his arrest, appeals from his conviction for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), 50 U.S.C. § 1701, et seq., and three related counts arising from his scheme to illegally export various goods and technology to Iran. We will affirm.

I. Background

IEEPA grants the President of the United States the authority, upon the declaration of a national emergency caused by a foreign threat, to “prevent or prohibit any ... importation or exportation of ... any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest.” 50 U.S.C. § 1702(a)(1)(B). Pursuant to this statute, successive Presidents have long imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on Iran. In addition to banning the export of goods and technology directly to Iran from the United States, the embargo prohibits so-called “transshipping,” whereby goods are exported to a friendly country and then re-routed to Iran. It is unlawful for any person to “violate ... any license, order, regulation, or prohibition issued under [IEEPA],” and violators are subject to up to twenty years in prison. 50 U.S.C. § 1705.

Vaghari first came to the attention of law enforcement officials in July 2005 after the FBI received a tip from a salesman at a U.S.-based company called Beckman Coulter, which specializes in the manufacture of centrifuges. That salesman, Thomas Frantz (“Frantz”), had been contacted by Vaghari about the purchase of a $100,000 centrifuge. During several subsequent phone conversations, Vaghari said that he would make the purchase in cash, and asked that the centrifuge, which weighed 1,100 pounds, be delivered to his basement apartment. He also said that he was “a middleman” who was purchasing the centrifuge for someone else, but refused to identify the end-user. When Frantz informed him that Beckman Coulter would not make the sale without knowing the identity of the end-user, Vaghari ceased all contact. Based on these conversations, Frantz became suspicious and contacted the FBI.

Acting on this tip, two FBI agents visited Vaghari at his apartment on October 28, 2005. The agents spoke with Vaghari about the company he founded, Saamen Company LLC, which he described as an *143 import/export business specializing in shipping goods to Dubai. In response to the agents’ questions, Vaghari stated that he did not export anything to Iran and knew that doing so was illegal. As the agents were leaving, they asked Vaghari if they could take with them certain documents from his home office so that they could better understand his business, and a consent search ensued. Upon being translated and reviewed, these documents revealed a scheme in which Vaghari received orders for American-based goods from contacts in Iran, purchased the goods himself, and then transshipped them to customers in Iran via Dubai. On the basis of this information, a search warrant for Va-ghari’s apartment was obtained. On December 13, 2005, federal agents executed the warrant and removed ten boxes of documents, files, and other items. 1

On September 16, 2010, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Vaghari and a co-conspirator, Mir Hossein Ghaemi. Count One charged Vaghari with conspiracy to violate IEEPA, and Counts Two through Four charged substantive violations of IEEPA. Vaghari also was charged with naturalization fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1425 (Count Five), and possessing a green card procured by fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546 (Count Six). Vaghari moved to suppress the documents recovered in the initial search on the ground that his consent had not been voluntarily given. He further argued that because the warrant for the second search was obtained based on information obtained from the documents, that search, too, was tainted. The District Court held a day-long hearing and subsequently denied the motion in a detailed written opinion.

The case proceeded to trial. During its case-in-chief, the government called 42 witnesses and introduced some 220 documents into evidence. The defense also presented a case, during which Vaghari testified. Following lengthy closing arguments, discussed in greater detail below, the jury deliberated for eight days, eventually returning a verdict finding Vaghari guilty on Counts One, Two, Three, and Five. At sentencing, the District Court applied a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice based on its finding that Vaghari perjured himself during his trial testimony. Vaghari was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment, and appealed. We will address each of the numerous issues Vaghari has raised to us on appeal.

II. Discussion 2

A. Prosecutorial Misconduct

Vaghari argues, first, that he was denied his right to a fair trial because of three types of prosecutorial misconduct: (1) excessive and inflammatory references to his statements and acts as “lies”; (2) vouching for government witnesses; and (3) arguing during closing facts not supported by the evidence. Because Vaghari did not raise a contemporaneous objection to the first two types of purported misconduct, our review is for plain error. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); United States v. Bethancourt, 65 F.3d 1074, 1079-80 (3d Cir.1995). He did object to the prosecution’s closing argument on the ground that it relied on facts not in evidence, an objection which was over *144 ruled. We review that ruling for abuse of discretion. United States v. Brown, 254 F.3d 454, 458 (3d Cir.2001). If prosecutorial misconduct did occur, we apply the harmless error standard in the context of the record as a whole. United States v. Helbling, 209 F.3d 226, 241 (3d Cir.2000).

1. Excessive and Inflammatory Argument

Vaghari argues that the government’s opening and closing arguments were improper insofar as they repeatedly referred to various of his statements and actions as “lies.” He concedes that “[u]se of the words ‘liar’ and ‘lie’ to characterize disputed testimony when the witness’s credibility is clearly in issue is ordinarily not improper,” (Appellant’s Br. 19), but argues that the government’s comments on his credibility were so excessive and inflammatory that he was denied a fair trial.

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