Latifi was acquitted last fall.  The Montgomery Independent is independent enough to call this "prosecutorial abuse and misconduct," but it was surprising to see it on the front page of the Huntsville Times.  Brian Lawson, business writer for the Times, interviewed Latifi and produced a very good account of his travails.

The case against Latifi, brought by U. S. Attorney Alice Martin, relied on an informant who was convicted of embezzling $12,000 from Latifi's company and on non-existent classified markings on the drawing in question.  Yes, in her capacity as U. S. Attorney, Alice Martin brought a case based on information from a very disgruntled former employee and transfer of a classified drawing to a company with Chinese ties.  Only the drawing -- of a block of tungsten -- did not have "Secret" or "Top Secret" or even "Classified" stamped on it and is similar to information available on the internet.

Alice Martin lost the case, which was no great shakes to begin with.  Alex Latifi spent around half a million dollars on his defense, his business has tanked and he's had a very anxious time of it since this started in 2004.  The good news for Latifi is that the judge ruled the government (that's us) must pay his legal bills.  That award is unprecedented.

Up until 2004, Latifi had been living the American Dream. He had emigrated from Iran after the fall of the Shah, got an engineering degree, and built, starting in 1984, an engineering services and manufacturing company that was highly regarded by it's primary customer, the US Army. Axion made circuit boards, landing gear components, machine gun mounts, Humvee seats and just about anything the Army needed at a lower cost than the Army had been paying for the original item. When investigators raided Latifi's house and business, all that came crashing down.

As a result of the raid, all operations at Axion stopped and its assets were frozen. About 60 employee's lost their jobs since once charged a company cannot perform on government contracts. A $4 million a year business, with a $35 million in orders came to a screeching halt. Worst of all, the company's reputation is forever damned despite its vindication. Guilty and ruined until proven innocent has never been the way it is supposed to be, but it was the way it was on this story of Axion.

When the case first burst into the news there was great outrage against the defendant. News stories told of how an Iranian-American owned company in North Alabama, Axion, had transferred critical military and sensitive technology to China. The US Attorney, Alice Martin, had offered owner, Alex Latifi, a plea deal in which his company got fined, but he stayed out of jail. Latifi refused, deciding to fight the charges that could jail him for 25 years. In October 2007, Alex Latifi was acquitted of all counts and is now suing the government for the $500,000 in legal fees he incurred defending himself. While some will see this as a case that proves the system "works", the truth is that this is a case that shows how deep-pocketed government lawyers ruin you whether you are guilty or not. What happened here was not justice, but a tar and feathering of a man who the government treated as guilty from the onset. This is not how it is supposed to work in a country that relishes freedom and justice for its citizens.

Of the charges, most considered the most serious that he had allegedly disclosed technology to China and that violated the Arms Export and Control Act (AECA). At issue, was a UH-60 Blackhawk vibration dampener made out of tungsten (pictured below). The government believed it had a case since the contract that had awarded manufacturing work to Axion had stipulated, "This acquisition contains data which is considered critical technology and has been restricted for release outside the United States. This information cannot be released outside the United States without prior approval of the government."

The other charges received less attention. They were equally, and I think more important. The charge that bothered me most was that Axion provided false and misleading test and certification of the parts being built for the UH-60. The government claimed he had lied when he had signed off certifications that the part met specification. If guilty, that is fraud. But worse, if the part was substandard, it puts the lives of Army aviators at risk. However, that charge was was tossed out with the rest of charges as the government's case imploded.

The government lost the case for a number of reasons. The defense showed that the part's specification was available on the Internet. One can still find the part described in an on-line version of TM 1-1520-265-23 and until the charges against Latifi were made, drawings were available on the Sikorsky corporate website. The defense also claimed there were no restrictions noted on the drawing, but I find this argument specious, having reviewed many drawings of critical technology that lacked such notices. But a bigger problem arose for the government when a Department of the Army engineer from PM Blackhawk testified that China owned Blackhawk helicopters. So if anyone in China really wanted to copy some critical technology in the aircraft, all they have to do is study one of the aircraft (as they likely have already done) they already own. Nevertheless, what killed the case was the Government's star witness had been previously dismissed for embezzling over $12,000 from Axion and forging Latifi's signature.

The progressive rag "Harpers" covered the case as only the liberal press could. First it suggested it was a selective prosecution they suggested because Latifi was an Iranian-American. Later Harper's suggested it was a part of the Bush-loving US Attorney General's zeal to promote her standing and desire to prosecute anyone with an Iranian connection. Later Harpers made the case the US Attorney's her gross incompetence and political aspirations were the root of all the charges. While there may be an element of truth in some of that, it conveniently ignores the charges brought in the case, which don't really bother Harper's much.