Albert Hakim was an Iranian businessman and a figure in the Iran-Contra affair

Iran-Contra Affair

The Iran–Contra affair , also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or Iran-Contra-Gate, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials and President Reagan secretly facilitated the sale of...

.

Born in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, Hakim attended California Polytechnic Institute

California Polytechnic State University

California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, is a public university located in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. The university is one of two polytechnic campuses in the 23-member California State University system....

 for 3 years, beginning in 1955. Back in Iran, he established an export business specializing in advanced technologies, and in avoiding export restrictions related to them. He also participated in Project Ibex

Project Dark Gene

Project Dark Gene was an active, aerial espionage program run by the CIA and Imperial Iranian Air Force from bases inside Iran against the Soviet Union. The program was run in conjunction with Project Ibex, which was a more traditional ELINT mission. The first operations were during the 1960s with...

 for the CIA.

Hakim moved to California in the early 1980s, and in 1983 established Stanford Technology Trading Group International (STTGI) with Major General Richard V. Secord

Richard Secord

Major General Richard V. Secord, Retired , is a United States Air Force officer convicted for his involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal only to be exonerated after a 1990 Supreme Court case found the statute used to be illegal....

, Retired. STTGI subsequently became involved in illegal covert operations to supply the Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

n contras

Contras

The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...

, as part of the Iran-Contra affair. For his part in the matter, Hakim was charged with 5 felonies and subsequently pled guilty in a plea bargain

Plea bargain

A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...

 to a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to probation and a fine.

Hakim died of a heart attack in Inchon, South Korea, where he had moved to be near his wife's parents.