The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday designated the manager of a Chinese company that misused New York banks and sold illicit missile and nuclear technology to Iran. Six Iranian companies were also enlisted for aiding the Islamic regime's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Li Fang Wei, a commercial manager of LIMMT Economic and Trade Co., which is banned from engaging in financial transactions in the U.S. due to its role in assisting Iran's nuclear program, was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney earlier in the day.
The Dalian, China-based company and its employee are facing a 118-count indictment related to the misuse of New York banks and the sale of illicit missile and nuclear technology to Iran, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau revealed Tuesday.
They were indicted on charges of falsifying business records and conspiracy.
Stuart Levey, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Li created a series of separate front companies in order to continue the illegal sales. Eight of those firms were also added to the Treasury's sanctions list.
"We are acting under our Security Council and other international obligations to prevent these entities from abusing the financial system to pursue centrifuge and missile technology for Iran," he added.
As a result of Treasury's action, any assets of the individuals and entities designated today that are within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen. Additionally, U.S. persons are prohibited from conducting any transactions with these individuals and entities.
Announcing the indictment at a press conference Tuesday, Morgenthau said, "This is a case about selling banned materials and contraband by a Chinese company to Iran by using the U.S. financial system."
He said the New York banks were not aware of the true nature of the illegal transactions involving dozens of payments through the U.S. between November 2006 and September 2008.
LIMMT sold sensitive nuclear raw materials that can be used for developing weapons as well as civilian purposes to the Defense Industries Organization, an arm of the Iranian military.
A statement from Morgenthau's office said transfers in the name of the Chinese company would be banned because it has no right to deal with U.S. banks under the 2006 embargo imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Listed by the Japanese government in 2007 as an entity of concern for proliferation relating to missiles, LIMMT was added to the Specially Designated National (SDN) list maintained by the OFAC in 2006 June, freezing its assets under U.S. jurisdiction.
"Our banks have high standards and sophisticated systems to stop these transactions, but this conduct was specifically designed to defeat their systems," Morgenthau told reporters.
U.S. banks, including Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., were deceived during more than two years of clandestine operations, he revealed.
The LIMMT fraudulence emerged during an investigation in January into Lloyds and other banks that allowed Iran and other sanctioned countries illegal access to the U.S. financial system.
The Treasury department commended the District Attorney's Office for its "intensive and significant investigation."
If found guilty, the accused could be sentenced for up to a year's imprisonment for conspiracy and a maximum of four years for falsifying business records. More than the gravity of the punishment, the indictment was an apparent attempt to expose Iran's dubious nuclear-proliferation program, reports said.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.