The Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently announced settlement agreements with Massachusetts-based Select Engineering, Inc., and with David Rainville, its Vice-President of Administration. Select Engineering agreed to settle charges that it exported medical electrode sensor elements and stainless steel snap connectors used in medical devices to Iran without a license. The items were alleged to have been exported to Iran by means of a transshipment through the UAE. As part of its settlement with BIS, Select agreed to pay a civil penalty of $52,800.

David Rainville was accused by BIS of violating 15 C.F.R. § 764.2(g) by making false representations to the BIS agent during the course of BIS’s investigation of the unlicensed exports. Specifically, it was alleged that Rainville told the investigator that he had spoken with an international trade specialist at the Department of Commerce after the unlicensed export when, in fact, he spoke with the specialist before the export. The specialist was alleged to have told Rainville before the export that an OFAC license would be required. Rainville agreed to a civil penalty of $35,200. (Ouch!)

The perplexing thing about this case is trying to understand why Select went ahead and shipped the items without getting license. Licenses are routinely granted here and are easy to obtain from OFAC. The settlement documents indicate that, in 2001, Select had applied for and obtained an OFAC license to ship the same kind of medical equipment to Iran. And, apparently, an employee of the Department of Commerce had specifically advised the company of the license requirement prior to the export at issue. I suppose that the company didn’t want to wait for license, but they paid a heavy price for their haste and risked criminal prosecution as well.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a non-standard 180-day denial order against various entities, including Iran Air and Ankair, in connection with what BIS believes to be the imminent sale of a Boeing 747 from Ankair to Iran Air. The non-standard denial order provides, in part, that no person may take any action to assist Iran Air in the acquisition of the aircraft in question or to service that aircraft. The denial order also prohibits Ankair from engaging in any transaction related to the aircraft.

Here’s a picture of the jet in question, which was once used by Martinair Cargo, parked at Schiphol in May 2008 prior to its delivery to ACT Airlines, a Turkish cargo airline based in Istanbul. How the 747 then wound up in the hands of Ankair, a charter passenger airline, is unclear.

But the involvement of Ankair in this transaction necessitates a completely off-topic digression into the history of Ankair and the story of its misconceived logo. Ankair was once World Focus Airways. An MD-83 which World Focus leased to and operated for AtlasJet crashed in November 2007 on its approach to an airport in Isparta, Turkey, killing all 57 people on board.

Because of the negative publicity generated by the crash, the company sought to re-brand itself as Ankair, short for Anka Air. Anka derives from the Turkish word for phoenix – anka kuÅŸu. As if the image of resurrection from the ashes wasn’t sufficiently unfortunate in light of the crash that led to the re-branding, the airline’s logo (pictured below) has been the object of mirth given the striking similarity between the phoenix that precedes Ankair and the letter “W.”

If this little bit of history piques your interest in Ankair, rest assured that the non-standard denial order wouldn’t prohibit you from flying on one of Ankair’s charter flights.