Two businessmen who hoped to turn a quick buck illegally flogging software to Iran have escaped lengthy jail sentences.

The pair from Louisiana  defied a U.S. trade embargo by exporting engineering software to Iran. James Angehr, 71, of Kenner, and John Fowler, 69, of Metairie, had faced up to five years in prison after they pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in April.

U.S. District Judge Lance Africk sentenced Angehr to serve six months and Fowler to spend four months in a halfway house. They were fined $250,000 and to hand over $218,583, which were believed to be the profits of the deal. Both of them are co-owners of Engineering Dynamics, which makes engineering software used to design offshore oil and gas structures.

They transferred ownership of Engineering Dynamics 's software to a Brazilian business agent, Nelson Galgoul, so that it could flogged in Iran as a Brazilian product. But since Engineering Dynamics received all the profits from Galgoul's sales in Iran, coppers got a bit suspicious and looked into the business. Galgoul was sentenced in May to 13 months in prison.