Plantation man pleads guilty to shipping military aircraft parts to iran miami news - riptide 2.0

Plantation Man Pleads Guilty To Shipping Military Aircraft Parts to Iran - Miami News - Riptide 2.0 25/10/2011 15:54

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By Tim Elfrink By Tim Elfrink By Francisco Alvarado By Michael Miller

The Judge
Plantation Man Pleads Guilty To Shipping Most Popular Stories
Military Aircraft Parts to Iran Viewed Commented Recent
By Tim Elfrink Thu., Apr. 2 2009 at 1:44 PM Comments (1) IPhone 4S's "Personal Assistant" Siri Tells Us Where
Categories: The Judge to Get Hookers, Weed, and Drunk
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It's probably safe to add "shipping military aircraft parts to Iran" to your running list of
"Bad Business Plans." Drunk Florida Man Tries to Use Taco as ID After His
Car Catches Fire at Taco Bell

Traian Bujduveanu, a Romanian citizen living in Plantation, learned that the hard way, Florida Elementary Students Accidentally Given
pleading guilty in downtown Miami federal court today of plotting to ship sensitive Pornographic Slap Bracelets

military parts to Iran, the U.S. Attorney's Office tells Riptide. Marco Rubio Caught Lying About His Family Story by
Birthers, National Media
It's the latest in a bizarre South Florida-Iran More Most Popular...
illicit arms connection. Shahrzad Mir
Gholikhan, whose story we brought you a few
months ago, earned a 29-month sentence for
her part in a deal to send night-vision goggles to
the Islamic Republic.

Bujduveanu, 53, ran a company called Orion
Aviation in Plantation. In 2007, he hooked up
with a California man named Hassan Saied
Keshari, who had connections in Tehran.
Keshari, who plead guilty for his role in the
scheme in January, took orders from Iranian
officials for parts for the F-14 Fighter Jet, Cobra
AH-1 Attack Helicopter and CH-53A Military
Helicopter and forwarded them to Bujduveanu.
All those aircraft are used by the Iranian
military, the U.S. attorney's office says, and only
the Iranians still fly the F-14. After receiving
the orders, Bujduveanu shipped them to a
holding company in Dubai, which sent them
along to Tehran.

Both Bujduveanu and Keshari are awaiting
sentencing.

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Slideshows
Wynwood Art Fair 2011
A New American Story

“World events do not occur by accident. They are made to happen, whether it is to do with national
issues or commerce; and most of them are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings”
Denis Healey, former British Defense Minister Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull at
American Airlines Arena
On January 3, 2011, Traian Bujduveanu will be released from a federal halfway house to return to his
family in Plantation, Florida. And halfway is precisely how it feels to him. He will have his freedom, but
not his good name.
The government took that from him in June of 2008 when they used explosives to blast open the doors Bassnectar at the Fillmore
to his home in order to execute a raid at six o’clock in the morning. They took it when they struck his Miami Beach
blind and elderly mother as they marched through his home, eventually dragging Bujduveanu in
handcuffs from his bedroom into the backyard.
It was a scene reminiscent of war time videos taken by imbedded photo journalists in Iraq or
Afghanistan, but the similarities are not just visual. The details are all too remindful of stories of betrayal
at the hands of the American government. The same government that, in times past and present, seeks
More Slideshows >>
out the help of Iraqi or Afghanistan, or Vietnamese, citizens to overthrow their government, only to be
thrown themselves beneath the wheels of democracy when it suited American interests to do so.
Like his name, Bujduveanu’s story is complex, until you break it down into smaller parts and review it a
few times so that it becomes familiar. Traian Bujduveanu, a naturalized citizen of the United States, was
recruited by the American government back in the 1980’s to assist in its plans to overthrow the
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communist regime of his native Romania. Two decades later, that same government accused Search Riptide 2.0 Follow us on:
Bujduveanu of conspiring to export military aircraft parts to Iran. In the process they were sufficiently
able to threaten and intimidate him until he plead guilty to a crime he didn’t commit. The question of why
– why did the government fabricate this case, is just as complex and, yet, just as simple.
Bujduveanu came to the United States, to New York City, from Romania in 1974 with his family. He was Categories... Archives...
18 years old and filled with optimism. This was America, land of the free, and a place where anyone
could succeed through hard work and determination. After six years in the United States, Bujduveanu
applied for and was granted citizenship in his adopted home. His parents and two sisters also became
naturalized citizens.
But they were not the first in the Bujduveanu family to take this path. His family and all ancestors were
born in Greek-Macedonia, near the ancient city of Pela. By the late 1930’s Greece, through the Greek
Secret Services, had begun an aggressive campaign to confiscate territory and property from ancient
Macedonia and its people, employing a form of ethnic cleansing in its wake. By 1939 there was a mass
exodus from Greek-Macedonia, also known as ancient Macedonia, with half settling in far away
Australia, Canada and the United States. While Traian’s grandfather fled to Romania, his grandfather’s
brother immigrated to the United States, settling in New York. There Traian’s young uncle, Ionel, enlisted



as a pilot in the United States Army during World War II.
Along with thousands of other pilots, Ionel was assigned to Operation Ploiesti, making dangerous
daylight bombing raids against petroleum refineries in oil rich Romania. During the latter stages of World
II, Romania, in the concert with the German/ Italian axis of power, was supplying as much as a third of
petroleum Hitler’s forces needed on the eastern front against Russia. Because of Ionel’s extensive ties in
Romania, the U.S. Army agreed to change his legal name to John Nicholas should he be shot down in
one of the raids and there be reprisals against the Bujduveanu clan.
It was this story of his uncle that inspired Traian to enter the Spartan College of Aeronautics in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, with the goal of getting a pilot’s license. He graduated in 1980 with a degree in Avionics and
Instruments.
In 1984 Bujduveanu moved to Florida where he began working for a company called New World
Aviation. He quickly found himself in sales, assisting the company as it grew and expanded, selling to
foreign governments and their military, throughout Central and South America.
A year later, agents of the United States government approached Bujduveanu to enlist his assistance in
its efforts to bring down the dictatorial government of Nicolae Ceausescu. After World War II, Romania
had fallen under Russia control and influence, leading to a succession of repressive communist
leadership, ultimately culminating with the installment of Ceausescu in 1965. Ceausescu vacillating
between support of Russian submission and Romanian independence, but maintained absolute control
throughout, never wavering in his fervor for the Marxist concept.
Bujduveanu possessed all the qualities the U.S. government desired. Although born in a small village, his
family moved to Bucharest, Romania’s capital, when he was still an infant. He grew up with Romania’s Retail
political elite, many of whom attained important government offices themselves when their time came.
Some were even placed in highly sensitive security positions. Bujduveanu had been able to maintain General
friendship and contacts from his childhood as he returned to Romania year after year on holiday, and
Kendall Conservatory Music
occasionally business.
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He was obviously fluent in the Romanian language, as well as Macedonian. He was additionally fluent in
English and had picked up some Spanish-language skills during his travels throughout Latin America.
Although a Romanian citizen by birth, Bujduveanu was a proud citizen of the United States and a firm Florida Law Partners
believer in democracy. View Ad | View Site
“If Greece was the cradle of democracy,” Bujduveanu is fond of saying, “then Macedonia was its
birthplace.”
Of course he would help the American government in its opposition to the corrupt communist regime in Kitchen 305
his home country in the name of democracy. Although he was a willing soldier in the cover war, he was View Ad | View Site
not a spy, not in the Hollywood sense of the word. He was not involved in any kind of assassinations or
death squads. His job was to target high level assets and gather information. Mike's At Venetia
He left New World Aviation and began his own business, Orion Aviation Corporation, a modest company View Ad | View Site
which he operated from his home in Florida. But it was more than a front for his clandestine services, it
was part of his dream, the same American dream that brought his family here in the first place.
More >>
Ultimately, the Ceausescu regime was toppled over the course of a single week, from December 16
through 22 in 1989.
“Minor incidents in the Transylvania city of Timisoara led to violence, which quickly spread to other
cities.” – Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th Edition (1995).
Ceausescu was arrested, tied and executed on Christmas Day. Bujduveanu’s picture had been taken
shaking the leader’s hand only months before.
“I am familiar with these events and the role of the U.S. government in them,” Bujduveanu admits. “But
it’s not important. What is important is that Romania is once again a democracy, and a better
democracy than what we have here now. Of course I’m talking about the government, the corruption of
the United States government in recent years.” Find A Coupon
Bujduveanu is quick to add, “It is the government and not the American people. But if they don’t wake
up, if the American public does not begin to hold their government responsible for its actions, they will Search by Category
lose what rights and what democracy they have left.”
After the fall of Ceausescu, all seemed right with the world. Orion Aviation was doing well, following the Zip Code Keywords Search
same line of business as his former employer, but with more of a focus in Eastern Europe and Pacific
Rim countries. But the U.S. government and its agents were never far behind, contacting him regularly
for input on a variety of issues. Popular Coupons
Bujduveanu’s arrest and search warrant were executed on June 21, 2008, and he and his family were $5.00 Off Shipping!
not very fortunate. Organo Gold
The sound of the explosion when government agents blew open his front door, combined with the
ensuing smoke, prompted a neighbor to jump over his fence to investigate, worried that something was $9.99 Rib Special All You Can
wrong. He was met by half a dozen men dressed in SWAT-style gear who told him to return to his home. Eat!
When he asked what had happened they told him he could read all about in the tomorrow’s newspapers. Eddie Rhodes Riverside Grille
But what his neighbor wouldn’t read about was Bujduveanu’s mother, who suffered was later diagnosed 78 canal st
miami springs, FL 33166
as a heart attack. Officials called a fire and rescue ambulance for her, but later sent it away after she was
stabilized in an attempt to cover up the incident.
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Frustrated in not being able to find what they were looking for, a squad of agents and officers began
digging, literally, with shovels found on the property.
Interestingly, the government claims to have “found boxes of military aircraft parts stored on
Bujduveanu’s property, including hundreds of parts for the C-130, the F-5, and other military aircrafts.”
The court, in its limited wisdom, has decided not to allow Bujduveanu to present a multitude of proofs on
appeal by granting the government’s “Motion in Limine”, filed after it saw the defensive evidence he
Twitter Feed
planned to present on appeal. It is an obscure legal maneuver that “preclude(s) the Defendant from
challenging these (parts) classifications in Court or at trial,” or otherwise in public. Follow miaminewtimes on Twitter
The government’s motion goes on: “In the sampling of the Defendant’s filings attached hereto …, the
MiamiNewTimes Eight Foot Tall Lego Man Washes Up on
Defendant attempts to explain that the parts at issue are not military or are not suitable for military use Florida Beach http://t.co/sQWooldx
because they are used antiqued parts. This “explanation” would be irrelevant to any judiciable issue at 29 minutes ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
trial.



At this Bujduveanu’s demeanor change and he is no longer the stoic protagonist. Struggling to maintain MiamiNewTimes The McRib is Back: My Chihuahua is
his emotion he asks, “What are they trying to hide? Why don’t they discuss this in the open? In fact, Iran McLovin' It http://t.co/mmzzoim6 (via @Short_Order)
has a firm order for 250 MIG-29 and 250 SU-27 aircrafts, or because the Iran Aircraft Industry #mcrib
47 minutes ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
manufactures its own aircrafts including a variant of the F-5 aircraft, or because the Iranian Helicopter
Industry has been placed there and is manufactured its own Bell Helicopters. Do they really need 40 MiamiNewTimes Duck Sauce's "Big Bad Wolf": A Couple of
years old junk parts? Or is this the kind of noise that we need to make before we enter into Iran in order Dickheads Having NSFW Fun http://t.co/83pgyO4y (via
to create another revolution there? Can anybody see that we are a total failure when it comes down to @Crossfade_SFL) @DuckSauceNYC
49 minutes ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
foreign policy and relations?” Bujduveanu’s frustration grows with each question. He is frustrated with
the court’s compliance with the government in keeping him silent when they have so publicly humiliated MiamiNewTimes Republican State Rep. Wants Doctors to
him. There was no court stepping in to stop the federal government, or the multitude of separate Go to Jail for Abortion http://t.co/mzApuyj8
about 1 hour ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
government agencies from putting out their own press releases after his arrest. No judge to keep
government friendly websites, indeed some government sponsored websites, from presenting a one- MiamiNewTimes Collins Avenue Slated For $2.5 Million,
side view – the prosecution’s view, before he had been arraigned. No higher authority to protect him 240-Day Upgrade, But Still No Bike Lanes
from being tried in the press, at the behest of the government, so that this same government could use it http://t.co/63c5IMoP
about 1 hour ago ! reply ! retweet ! favorite
all against him in pressuring him to plead guilty. Everyone questioned and interrogated by the
government where quoting the federal agents saying, “There is a lot of pressure from above …” Pressure More Twitter >>
by whom? Who were these people above?
“And these lists – the Munitions Control List and the Commerce Control List, they are available to
anyone on the Internet. They show the part numbers and descriptions. They show the classifications. So
what are they afraid of? Why won’t they let me make my case in the court?”
But Bujduveanu did have his day in the court, and he pleaded guilty to the charges. On April 2, 2009, VVM on Digg
Bujduveanu appeared in the Southern District of Florida courtroom and capitulated to the government’s
singular charge of conspiracy to illegally export military and dual use aircraft parts to Iran. He reentered Upcoming Popular All Time
the same court on June 11, 2009, for sentencing: 35 months in federal prison to be followed by 3 years
23
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of supervised release.
diggs
200 Allegations Of Sexual
“You must understand how the government works. When they arrested me they put me in a SHU
Abuse Of Immigration
(Special Housing Unit), completely isolated and sleeping on the floor for the first ten days. My attorney
Detainees, Three Cases At
had to plead with the court to take me down to the general population area. This is here in the United Santa Ana City Jail
States, not some Third World country.”
“The government threatened me with other charges, crazy charges. All lies. But remember, I’ve seen 30
Top 5 Scariest Foods You'll
them lie. They are very good at lying. This I’ve experienced first hand,” Bujduveanu says with an almost diggs
Love To Eat
casual reference to his past dealings with government agents during the Romanian plot. “I had to think
of my elderly mother and my son.”
Bujduveanu has a seventeen year old son who lives with his ex-wife only a few miles from his home.
27
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Their residence was also searched, computers confiscated and his son’s vacation money seized.
diggs
Legends
Additionally, Bujduveanu had no access to his documents or the Internet in order to properly aid in his
defense. He went through three different lawyers before he was able to find someone with the expertise
to help him. By then he had pled guilty and had been sentenced, but still held out hope for his appeal.
Then the court, in alliance with the government, instituted the gag order, giving him little to hope for at 12
Muammar Gadhafi And 5
this point, like being halfway home. diggs
Other Gruesome Dictator
All were in the overused name of national defense and homeland security. Indict and convict, but don’t Deaths
allow the defendant to put on a defense or appeal by confronting their accusers or challenging the
evidence. With the stroke of an executive order pen here and a government sponsored gag order there,
29
Wookiees With Boobs (NSFW)
a new American story is told.
But that still doesn’t answer the original question. Why? And why Traian Bujduveanu? As one recent diggs
U.S. president said, simply because they can.
The United States foreign policy efforts since the Iraqi war have been dismal. Friendly or otherwise
empathetic countries around the world have been hesitant to give America the same kind of carte blank
support they once did in the immediate aftermath of 09/11. This is particularly true of the cautious, or
even skeptical, view countries take with regard to America stands regarding Iran.
In a related case this past May, a French court refused an American request to extradite an Iranian
businessman who was accused of violating an American embargo on exports to Iran. Majid Kakavand, Links
37, had been arrested at a Paris airport in March of 2009 on an American warrant. But the French
government prosecutor opposed the extradition request noting that Kakavand had not violated French VVM Blogs
The Pulp (Broward-Palm Beach)
law and that the equipment involved “was not necessarily military in nature.” (The New York Times,
Runnin' Scared (New York)
Thursday, May 6, 2010)
So the American government seeks to achieve their goals by finding scapegoats here at home, backed Local News Blogs
by the courts and, in particular, a conservative Supreme Court found to be even more conservative in its Babalu
interpretations of the War Powers Act. Bandwagon City
Lastly, through fear and intimidation, the government acquires the assistance of its citizens in combating Bark Bark, Woof Woof
the “axis of evil” at every turn. The message is: “Be afraid, be very afraid, to do business with anyone of Bike Miami
Iranian decent or affiliation.” The government may not be able to get away with racial profiling, but its Blogging Black Miami
citizens can. Brickell Life
Everyone involved in this case have disappeared. The PSI officer, the lawyers, the state attorney, the Carlos Miller
federal agents, and none of the agencies involved in this case faded away. The only two people Coconut Grove Grapevine
remaining in this case are Bujduveanu and Judge Seitz. Coral Gables Watch
Eye on Miami
Case in point: Arizona’s new illegal alien law makes it a crime for anyone to give aid to an illegal alien. If FinsNation
a driver pulled over for a simple traffic stop is found to have an illegal alien in their vehicle, they have Florida Politics
committed a crime by giving them a ride. Average citizens are required to determine if each passenger is Homestead is Home
legally on this side of the border. The simplest way to achieve the goal is to not give a ride to anyone Justice Building Blog
with a Spanish surname, a Spanish accent or a brown skin tone not attribute to the Arizona sun. Man or Maniac?
Mambi Watch
But that’s another new American story. Miami Beach 411
Miami Bike Scene
Miami City Diggs



Miami Condo Investments
Reply to this comment Cocoselu Anton Miami-Dade Dems
On June 21, 2008, the United States by and through the following agencies: Federal Bureau of Miamism
Investigations, United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Nielsen Readings
National Security Agency, United States Custom Office, United States Immigration Department of Phin Phanatic
Defense Criminal Investigation Service, Department of Treasury - Office of Foreign Assets Control, Random Pixels
Plantation Police Department, Broward County Sheriff Department, Plantation Fire and Rescue Service, Sex and the Beach
Department of Commerce, United States Department of State – Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, SFLTV
Department of Justice, United States Marshall, did raid Traian Bujduveanu’s residence. South Florida Daily Blog
This raid requiring over 30 agents to overwhelm any resistance which may have been offered by Traian South Florida Lawyers
Bujduveanu or his eighty-four year old blind mother, permitted the government to seize extremely Spokes 'n' Folks
valuable assets which according to the lead prosecutors for the United States were claimed in Court to swampstyle
be worth more than “$ 100,000 from the boxes alone”, not including the cash or computers. Sweet Home Hialeah
Contrary to the representations made by the assistant United States attorney in her place as an attorney The Reid Report
before the bar in the open court, during the preconvention motion, the assets seized were less than $ Transit Miami
10,000.00 rather than considerable “ over $ 100,000.00” aircraft parts and consisted of antiqued aircraft View From Virginia Key
parts, this even after an extensive search involving dozens of agents digging holes in the Traian
Bujduveanu’s garden. Media Blogs
Bob Norman's Blog
The patently ridiculous television type drama did not harvest anything more than would have been
Burnettiquette
recovered if the United States had chosen to detain Traian Bujduveanu while at or on the way to Publix
Crime Scene
the previous day, or had the United States calmly knocked on the door with a search warrant instead of
Cuban Colada
terrorizing an eighty-four year old blind woman and sending her to the hospital by striking her.
Dave Barry
According to the witnesses that have been questioned or interrogated, Traian Bujduveanu was under
Dolphins In Depth
surveillance since 2007, which represents considerable time before the raid, and could have been
Fish Bytes
detained without the need to break in and breakdown doors, causing unneeded damages to the
Gay South Florida
property and by standers.
Inside Track
Apparently, the bureaucratic imperative of needing to justify the expenses of this misadventure create
Naked Politics
sufficient rationale for the United States Attorney’s Office to behave in a manner more consistent with
Pitts' Stop
Romania’s former communism regime than the spirit of the “taking clause” in the United States
Scene in the Tropics
Constitution.
The Frugalista Files
It is regrettable Bujduveanu’s prior counsels, openly admitted, they were afraid to challenge the United
The Grimm Truth
States otherwise this matter could have been more promptly addressed.
Total Futbol
A current colleague of Bujduveanu has said it is a shame to hear this type of fear comment from any
citizen, let alone attorneys, because when the government’s citizens have become afraid of the
government, especially where it involves the citizens willingness to speak the truth, “the government no
longer has legitimate authority to govern”.
The government conducted a massive investigation to get a handful of used parts, which if presented to
a jury would have resulted not only in acquittal, but made the government a laughing stock.
Bujduveanu regrets buckling into the coercion of the government and his innate fear of government
instead of properly presenting the case to court and public and having his day in court.

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