An Iranian man convicted in the U.S. for skirting sanctions on Iran by exporting restricted materials faced a deportation hearing in Toronto, where border officials revealed he’d used at least three different identities since entering the country.
While he arrived in Canada as Amin Yousefijam, in the U.S. he went by the name Amin Riki but has since been residing in Thornhill, Ont. under the alias Ameen Cohen.
During his deportation hearing last week, CBSA also discovered that he served as a police lieutenant while living in Tehran, Iran.
He managed to change his name while in Ontario to “Ameen Cohen” without notifying the government of his U.S. conviction in 2022.
Immigration authorities want him deported for his role in establishing shell companies to illegally export sensitive manufacturing equipment back to Iran, while living in Michigan in 2021.
Beginning in 2015, Amin, his brother Arash Yousefijam and a third conspirator in Iran operated a shell company, Austin General Trading, to conduct what is known as a “cross-stuffing” scheme.
They would purchase and export restricted materials from U.S. manufacturers, hiding that Iran was the real destination of the exports and using banks located in foreign countries.
The contents would first be transported to the United Arab Emirates where they would be moved from their original containers and then illicitly re-shipped to Iran, a ploy referred to as transshipping.
Following their conviction, they returned to Ontario where they had lived previously. Upon arriving, the two applied to have their names changed to Ameen and Aurash Cohen.
Believed to be a national security threat, the CBSA argued that Yousefijam contributed to “an increased security threat towards Canada in regards to terrorism and attack by nuclear weapons.”
When asked whether his decision to change his name upon arriving in Canada was to evade links to his criminal past, Global News reported that Yousefijam responded by saying, “That’s your opinion.”
Instead, Yousefijam alleged that he simply didn’t like the name Riki, claiming that “Cohen” was “the name that resonated with me the most” because of his English and Persian ancestry.
CBSA noted that when filling out government paperwork to have his name changed, he answered “no” to being asked if he had a criminal record in Canada or elsewhere.
Yousefijam’s defence was that he was advised by an Ontario government information hotline that he only had to disclose convictions in Canada, a claim which has been disputed by the government.
His brother Arash Yousefijam also changed his name to Arash Cohen and became a dentist before having his licence rescinded by the province’s dentist registry.
However, Arash is a naturalized Canadian citizen, meaning he cannot be deported.
Yousefijam’s defence was largely predicated on his criminal activity being the result of him trying to help out his brother Arash, whom he called the mastermind of the operation, claiming he only contributed to the logistical side of the operation.
Yousefijam said he did so as “a family obligation to help him out.”
A ruling on his deportation hearing is expected to be determined in the next several months.
However, it comes at a time when Canada’s Iranian diaspora has expressed growing concerns that the country has become a safe haven for high-ranking members of the Iranian regime.
The Hogue Commission on foreign interference received hundreds of submissions during its public consultations period last year after asking what threats Canada faced from outside hostile forces.
Many Iranian-Canadians called for the government to take more action to stop the Iranian regime from meddling with Canada’s democracy.
Canada’s Iranian diaspora specifically called for better security screening when it comes to stopping regime officials from arriving in Canada after serving the country’s dictatorship.