Iran-embargo defendant gets 2 1/2 years in prison

NEW YORK (AP) — A Princeton-educated man convicted of violating the Iran trade embargo after his family sent him millions of dollars has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Mahmoud Reza Banki was sentenced Monday by Judge John Keenan in New York. He had faced up to 25 years in prison.

Banki was convicted in June of violating the embargo and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

The 35-year-old Banki was born in Tehran and is a U.S. citizen. He holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton.

His lawyers had said he had $3.4 million deposited into his bank accounts by family members and was unaware that an informal banking system let an equal amount of money move into Iran.