The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has charged Clark Material Handling Company executive Robert Quinn with breaching a trade embargo with Iran (Forkliftaction.com News #188).

Quinn, 54, formerly a Clark global parts vice-president based at the company's US headquarters, was named in a criminal complaint filed last month in the US District Court, according to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper.

Quinn, who now works for Clark at its South Korean headquarters, appeared at a hearing in Lexington, Kentucky, last month, and was released until a later hearing by a District Court judge in Washington, DC.

According to the DOC complaint, Quinn allegedly made three shipments of Clark forklift parts to a company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, knowing the parts would be forwarded to Iran.

The DOC says Quinn's actions breached a trade embargo imposed in 1979 after the US embassy in Tehran was seized and its occupants held hostage.

If convicted, Quinn could be fined up to USD250,000 and imprisoned for up to 10 years for each violation.