Strikes plea bargain. 1994 sale of water purification equipment violated U.S. embargo

STEVE ECKARDT
CP

The long-running case of Canadian businessperson James Sabzali, charged with violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba, came to a quiet close yesterday as he received a year's probation in exchange for pleading guilty to a single charge of "smuggling" several thousand dollars worth of supplies destined for the island.

He was also fined $10,000 U.S.

Sabzali had been charged with 75 counts of violating the 1917 U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy for sales of nearly $3 million worth of water purification supplies to Cuba. He faced a possible life sentence and a fine of more than $19 million.

Sabzali's conviction on the single charge of smuggling references his importation of goods in violation of U.S. law: in this case, re-export to Cuba by a U.S. business with which he was working. Prosecutors allowed the 45-year-old Canadian, a Philadelphia-area resident since 1996, to plead guilty to this new offence to avoid the automatic deportation required by all of the original charges.

"Right now, I feel great," Sabzali said.

"It's nice to get this chapter over with and move on with my life."

But while Sabzali called the agreement a "victory," the settlement may have kept alive the case's most contentious issue: Washington's asserted right to enforce U.S. law beyond its borders.

The original 76 charges - 32 of which were for sales made while Sabzali was living and working in Canada - brought a wave of objections about U.S. "extraterritorial measures" from Canadian editorialists and demonstrators, as well as two diplomatic protest notes from Ottawa.

Today's settlement has the Canadian salesperson admitting guilt for a 1994 transaction that occurred while he lived in Hamilton and was a self-employed Canadian businessperson.
 
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