UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Massoud NOUSHFAR; Zohreh Shayesteh and Kamran Shayesteh, Defendants-Appellants

This case involves a conspiracy to smuggle valuable Persian rugs into the United States in violation of an Executive Order. Because the jury was allowed during deliberations to listen to audiotapes never played in open court, we reverse the convictions and remand for a new trial.

FACTS

Kamran Shayesteh and his wife Zohreh own and manage the Galleria deFarsh, a large rug store in Burlingame, California. In 1987, a presidential order imposed an embargo on virtually all Iranian goods. See Exec. Order No. 12613 (Oct. 29, 1987), 31 C.F.R. §§ 560.201 , 560.403. The embargo prevented importation of Iranian products, but did not prevent ownership. The restriction created a sudden increase in demand and in price for the limited supply of Persian (Iranian) rugs already in the United States.

According to the government, the Shayestehs conspired with Massoud Noushfar and Manuchehr Rabie to smuggle Persian rugs from Canada, where they could be legally imported, to California. The conspiracy worked more or less as follows: The Shayestehs, with the assistance of Rabie, imported Iranian rugs from Tehran to Vancouver, often via Singapore, Hong Kong or Malaysia. The rugs were then smuggled into…