By: Richard L. Smith
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today that two individuals were arrested Tuesday morning for attempting to ship an Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) from New Jersey to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without the necessary license and authorization.
Federal officials said Fadi Nammas, 43, of Fairfax, Virginia, and Tara Jamhour, 24, of Rockaway, New Jersey, are charged with conspiracy to export and smuggle goods from the United States, unlawfully exporting goods without the required license and smuggling goods from the United States.
Nammas made his initial appearance on July 2, 2024, before U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing, detention hearing, and identity hearing on July 3, 2024.
Jamhour appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica S. Allen in Newark federal court and was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond.
From November 2023 through March 2024, Nammas and Jamhour operated under the guise of Star Aero, an aircraft service and parts provider with a purported address in Garfield, New Jersey.
They acquired an ADIRU from a Vermont-based aviation company. The ADIRU supplies critical air data and inertial reference information to pilots' electronic flight instrument systems.
The defendants arranged for the ADIRU to be shipped to Star Aero's Garfield address, claiming it was for stock purposes and assuring compliance with U.S. export laws.
However, they did not disclose their intention to ship the ADIRU to another company in the UAE.
Once in possession of the ADIRU, Nammas and Jamhour repackaged it with false documentation that undervalued and misrepresented the item.
They attempted to ship it to the UAE without the required license or authorization, despite the ADIRU being controlled for missile technology and anti-terrorism reasons.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office, and both defendants face serious charges for their actions.
