A 59-year-old resident of Glendale was sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegal sale of vacuum pump equipment that could be used in nuclear projects to Iran.

Jiraiir Avanessian was accused, along with two other Iranian men, of violating a trade embargo and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for smuggling the specialized vacuum and pump equipment via a free-trade zone in the United Arab Emirates, Glendale-News Press writes.

Avanessian who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges was also accused of laundering more than $500,000 from the scheme, using international money transfers to his U.S. bank account.

The federal judge reportedly acknowledged that the defendant may not have had nuclear ambitions, but that he did knowingly violate international trade laws, the newspaper says.