As CEO of HP, Fiorina Violated U.S. – Iran Sanctions: Selling Millions
of Computers to Them



GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina likes to portray herself as a
hard-liner on Iran. However, during Fiornia’s six-year tenure at
Hewlett-Packard between 1999 and 2005, the company sold more than $100
million worth of computers and other high-tech equipment to Iranian
customers, despite US export sanctions at the time. It’s a small detail
she has neglected to mention while on the campaign trail.

How did HP do it? The usual corporate schemes: the products were
channeled through one of HP’s European subsidiaries, and sold through an
IT distributor in Dubai, known as Reddington Gulf. The sales continued
long after HP sacked Fiorina. By 2007, more than 40% of printers sold in
Iran bore the HP trademark.

HP had started skirting Iran sanctions in 1997, two years before Fiorina
came on board. By that time, sanctions imposed by the Clinton
Administration had been in place for two years. However, there was a
loophole in the law that allowed HP to do business in Iran “legally,�
albeit indirectly. Under the rules in place at the time, foreign
subsidiaries of American companies were considered outside of US
jurisdiction. Nonetheless, the issue came to the attention of the
Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009 because of concerns that the
equipment might be used for military or terrorism-related purposes. HP’s
legal department claimed that, because the subsidiaries were not “United
States [corporate] person(s),� they were not subject to US sales
restrictions.

Fiorina continued the HP scheme to get computers to Iran after she took
over as CEO. Her compliance in violating US sanctions against Iran was
highlighted in the Boston Globe in 2008 when Fiorina was attempting to
unseat California Senator Barbara Boxer. The issue torpedoed her
campaign then – and it could very well sink Fiorina again. Senator Boxer
thought so when she told MSNBC: “So she’s got so many problems. I say if
the Republicans choose her, we’ll walk into the presidency.�

During the first GOP debate, Fiorina declared that on her first day in
office she would call Iranian leader Ali Khameni with the following
message: “Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to
full, open, anytime/anywhere inspections, we are going to make it as
difficult as possible for you to move money around.� As CEO of
Hewlett-Packard, however, Fiorina had no problem with Iran moving money
into her own company’s coffers.