Hijacker's life changed

[Nic Name]

In an unrelated case, Canadian businessman will be sentenced in Philadelphia on June 28 for "trading with the enemy" and faces a possible sentence of life in prison.

Philadelphia (CP) -- A Canadian businessman charged with violating the 1960 U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was found guilty of selling goods through foreign middlemen by a jury on Wednesday.

James Sabzali, 42, becomes the first Canadian to be convicted of trading with Cuba, something that is legal in Canada but could send him to prison in the United States.

"I'm shocked," said Sabzali, who fully co-operated with the five-year investigation. "It doesn't make any sense."

... for more on this story

At the crux of the jury's verdict was Sabzali's approval of reimbursements to Canadian salesman Claude Gauthier for travel expenses "to, from and within Cuba," while acting as Brotech's marketing director.

The company's salesman, Gauthier, a Canadian who never set foot in the USA, was originally indicted, but the US withdrew charges against him following protests from Canadian diplomatic authorities. So, DoJ went after another Canadian employee of the American company, Sabzali, who lives outside Philly, and tied him to the "activities" of the Canadian they couldn't prosecute -- linking Sabzali to the "crime" by his approval of expense accounts of Gauthier, the Canadian employee who had never even visited the USA.

In Sabzali's case, both sides agreed that $2 million dollars worth of chemicals used to purify and soften water made their way to Cuba from plants owned, directly or indirectly, by BroTech, an American company.

[edit more info on sentencing ... Mr Sabzali faces a maximum sentence of more than 200 years in jail although prosecutors have recommended less than five. He is to be sentenced on 28 June.]