By Paul Gully

Special Projects Editor

Oakland University associate professor Darrin Hanna was acquitted Thursday, Oct. 2 on nine counts of violating a trade embargo with Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power.

However, Hanna’s 35-year-old sister and business partner, Dawn, was found guilty on eight of the nine counts by a U.S. District Court jury.

The Hanna’s were indicted during the summer of 2007 and tried for their alleged role in shipping components for a mobile telecommunications network and GPS equipment to Iraq, in return for approximately $9.5 million, which was used to pay a supplier, a middleman and themselves.

At the time of the dealing, a federal embargo prohibited all trade and business transactions between the U.S. and Iraq.

The embargo was lifted in May 2003 after the fall of the Hussein regime.

Dawn Hanna was found guilty on multiple counts of violating federal export laws, conspiring to launder money and making false statements to a customs agent, according to reports. She was acquitted of one export violation count.

Darrin Hanna is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and has been an instructor at OU in some capacity since 1996, according to his biography on the department website.

Hanna, who is also owner and president of Technology Integration Group Services Inc., could not be reached for comment.

A distinguished student at OU, Hanna graduated from OU with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Mathematics in 1999 and earned a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering the following year.

In 2003, he received a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering, also at OU.

Dawn Hanna is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 22, 2009. She is facing up to 20 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine.