The owner of a Los Angeles-based international food distribution company pleaded guilty on May 28 to a federal charge of operating an unlicensed money transmittal business through which more than $17 million was transferred between Iran and the United States.

Ali Amin, a 57-year-old resident of Bel-Air, also pleaded guilty today to tax fraud and failing to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service bank accounts in Switzerland.

Amin owns Primex International Trading Company, Inc. (Pitco), a producer and distributor of dried fruit and nut products to domestic and international markets that is based near Los Angeles International Airport. Since 2007, Amin has also owned a 50 percent interest in Amin Padidar Limited, a processor and distributor of pistachios that is based in Tehran, Iran.

According to court documents, from 2007 through 2011, Amin used bank accounts of Amin Padidar in Tehran, an account in Switzerland, an Amin Padidar affiliate, and Pitco in the United States, to transfer money from individuals in Iran to people in the United States designated to receive the money. To conduct the transfers, people in Iran — typically Amin’s friends and family members — first deposited Iranian currency with Amin Padidar in Iran. Upon confirmation of the receipt of those funds, Amin directed Pitco to transfer an equivalent amount of money from domestic Pitco accounts to the United States-based bank account of people designated to receive the funds. Amin would also use a bank account in Switzerland to transfer funds from Iran to the United States for family members of Amin.

Amin also admitted that he failed to disclose to the IRS an account at HypoSwiss Private Bank in Switzerland that he controlled, and to filing a false tax return, admitting that he failed to disclose approximately $3.4 million in income to the IRS from 2007 to 2011.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled on Jan. 25, 2016. As a result of his guilty plea to the three felony charges, Amin faces a maximum statutory sentence of 18 years in federal prison.