Top Stories Montgomery

By

Brendan Kirby

November 08, 2009, 2:04PM

Federal prosecutors in Mobile may be close to hammering out a plea
bargain with a reputed international arms dealer charged with trying to
smuggle jet engine parts into Iran.
  
 U.S. District Judge William Steele last week granted a request by
the U.S. Attorney’s Office make Jacques Monsieur available at the
federal courthouse for an interview and plea negotiation.
View full sizeJacques Monsieur …
negotiating plea bargain with prosecutors.

   
Prosecutors said in the written request to Steele that the Baldwin
County Corrections Center, where the Belgian native has been jailed
since his arrest in August, is not conducive to a lengthy discussion
among a large number of people.
   
Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Bordenkircher wrote that he and defense
attorney Arthur Madden “are of the opinion that if all parties can meet
for an extended period of time, a plea agreement and the defendant’s
cooperation can be arranged.”
Defense attorney Arthur Madden declined to discuss the case.
  
“I think what the government filed speaks for itself,” he said.
   
A grand jury in Mobile indicted Monsieur of trying to supply Iran with
engines to F-5 fighter jets through Mobile. The charges stem from an
eight-month investigation led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agents based in Mobile and included face-to-face meetings with an
undercover agent in London and Paris to hash out the plan.
   
According to the allegations, Monsieur and an accomplice tried to
arrange to shop the banned aircraft parts through Colombia. The
undercover agent posed as someone who could obtain those parts,
according to the indictment.
   
U.S. law enforcement authorities nabbed Monsieur after his plane landed at JFK International Airport in New York.
   
Monsieur’s co-defendant, Dara Fotouhi, remains at large.

(For a complete roundup of news from federal court, read Monday’s Press-Register.)