Dr. Shakir Hammodi - a Columbia business man sentenced to three years in prison for violating trade sanctions - was released from prison to a Columbia halfway house on December 9, 2014.

Between 1993 and 2003, Hamoodi sent more than $200,000 to friends and family in his native Iraq in violation of U.S. imposed sanctions on the country. In 2012, he was sentenced to three years in prison for the violation.