2 Californians Convicted of Plot to Ship Missiles to Iran

A federal jury today convicted two California men and acquitted four other people of conspiring to ship 1,140 U.S. anti-tank missiles to Iran.

Convicted on one count of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud each were Paul Cutter, 47, of San Jose, whom the prosecution described as the mastermind of the plan, and Charles St. Claire, 52, of Granada Hills, who made the first contact on a missile deal with an FBI undercover agent.

Acquitted of all charges after four days of deliberation and a five-week trial were George Neranchi, a Cutter employee from San Francisco; Farhin Sanai, Iranian-born resident of Calabasas, Calif.; her husband, Fadel Norman Fadel, 54, and Hossein Monshizadeh-Azar, an Iranian national whom the prosecution had identified as a go-between with the Iranian government.

Farhin Sanai, Fadel and Monshizadeh-Azar were released from custody late Friday after a judge unsealed some of the verdicts delivered while the trial judge was out of town for the day. Neranchi had been free on bail.

Cutter, a writer, publisher and entrepreneur, has been held without bond since the six were arrested July 31 after an FBI undercover operation.

U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp set a sentencing date of Jan. 21 for Cutter.

Prosecutors said St. Claire, a registered arms dealer, contacted FBI informant Anthony Romano in Orlando in March and presented a shopping list of weapons he wanted to buy for shipment to Iran in violation of a 1979 weapons embargo on that country.

St. Claire remains free on bail until his sentencing, scheduled for March 22.

The conspiracy conviction carries a prison term of up to five years and a $10,000 fine. Each wire-fraud conviction carries a penalty of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.