Tech Executive Sentenced for Illegally Shipping Computer Equipment to Pakistan

Technology executive Obaidullah Syed, of Northbrook, Illinois, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for illegally exporting computer equipment to a nuclear research agency in Pakistan, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced May 18. Syed pleaded guilty in 2021 to conspiring to ship the goods without a license and to submit false export information. Before sentencing, Syed forfeited $247,000 of cash derived from the illegal sales.

Syed was the owner of Pakistan-based Business System International and its U.S. affiliate, BSI USA in Chicago, providers of high-performance computing platforms, servers and software application solutions, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring with his company's employees in Pakistan from 2006 to 2015 to violate U.S. sanctions by exporting computer equipment to the designated Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission without getting a license from the Commerce Department. Syed also admitted he falsely represented to the U.S. computer manufacturers that the exports were meant for Pakistani universities or his businesses.