WASHINGTON, DC (AIP) – Air Force Staff Sargent Clay Faxon, an aircraft loadmaster from the 43rd Operations Support Squadron based at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, N.C. was convicted today by a general court martial of dereliction of duty and sentenced to 10 years in prison for failing to get a signed receipt upon delivery of $400 million in cash to an Iranian known only as “Abdul” in January of 2016.
“That’s a butt-full of money that Faxon can’t account for,” said Colonel Jefferson Michaels, chief prosecutor for the Air Force in the case. “What if Iran says that they didn’t get the money? How do we prove that we delivered it? Faxon dropped the ball and got exactly what he deserved.”
The $400 million, part of $1.7 billion dollar payout to the government of Iran was a key component in the recent nuclear deal brokered by the United States.
President Barak Obama, speaking to reporters about the originally secret deal, seemed pleased.
“A court has ruled that Staff Sargent Faxon was derelict in his duty,” said Obama. “I am happy that we can finally put this non-issue to rest. The guilty have been punished. Justice has been done. Case closed.”
In a transcript of testimony from his trial Faxon claims he was never told to get a receipt.
“I was ordered to load the pallets of cash on the C-130, secure it during the flight to Tehran and some guy named Abdul would off-load it,” Faxon testified, according to the transcript. “Nobody ever said anything about getting a receipt.”
Faxon will serve his 10 year sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas at hard labor.
