Iranian woman deported following conspiracy sentence

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Iranian citizen who was brought to the U.S. to face criminal conspiracy charges has been deported back in her home country.

Robert Richman, an attorney for 40-year-old Negar Ghodskani, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Ghodskani left Minnesota on Tuesday after she was sentenced to time served for conspiracy to illegally export restricted technology from the U.S. to Iran.

He says she arrived in Iran on Wednesday.

Prosecutors say Ghodskani and others established a front company in Malaysia to illegally obtain restricted communications circuitry from companies in Minnesota and Massachusetts. She was indicted in 2015 in Minnesota and arrested in Australia in 2017.

Richman says that to his knowledge, Ghodskani’s deportation was not part of any prisoner swap with Iran. He says she agreed to plead guilty and be deported so she could resolve the case and reunite with her family.

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