Southland Man Sentenced for S. Africa Deal

A Costa Mesa businessman was sentenced Monday to four months in prison and fined $15,000 for violating federal export laws by trying to sell military manuals for jet fighter engines to South Africa.

U.S. District Judge Ferdinand Fernandez sentenced George MacArthur Posey III, 38, to prison for conspiracy to violate export laws, including the 1986 Anti-Apartheid Act, which bars trading in munitions with South Africa. Posey was convicted in July, 30.

Posey is the managing partner of Newport Aeronautical Sales, which buys non-classified military manuals from the government and sells them to prospective government contractors.

Through that firm, Posey had arranged to sell to South Africa maintenance manuals for generators used in the engines of A-4 and F-16 fighter jets and other manuals related to the C-130 aircraft.

Posey had said the sales were legal because the information in the manuals was available under the Freedom of Information Act. Fernandez rejected that argument, ruling that selling the manuals was still prohibited because they are on the U.S. Munitions List.

Fernandez also ordered Posey to perform 400 hours of community service and prohibited him from selling the technical manuals to foreign customers. After the hearing, Posey said that order will cut his business in half by limiting his sales to domestic clients.

Posey’s associate, Edward James Bush of Agoura, was arrested in February as he boarded a plane to South Africa with three cases of the manuals. He pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act and was sentenced in August to three years’ probation.