A businessman with ties to the Iran-Contra affair has been sentenced to two years probation for his role in a conspiracy to sell confidential Ashland Oil Inc. documents to Iran. U.S. District Judge Miriam G. Cedarbaum on Monday also ordered Roy M. Furmark, a private consultant in the oil industry, to pay Ashland $15,000 in restitution. Furmark pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Furmark, of Brooklyn, testified to Congress in 1987 that he was involved in the sale of American arms to Iran. In the Ashland case, Furmark cooperated with prosecutors for more than a year before his plea and helped implicate former Ashland chairman Orin E. Atkins in the conspiracy. On Friday, Atkins, who also pleaded guilty to conspiracy, was sentenced to two years probation and 600 hours of community service for his role in the scheme. Furmark admitted that he agreed to help Atkins arrange meetings with representatives of the Iranian National Oil Co., which was contemplating a lawsuit against Ashland for the company's decision not to pay $283 million for crude oil purchased in 1979. Atkins has said he wanted to sell to the Iranians confidential documents involving the disputed oil deal that he obtained after he was forced to resign as chairman in 1981 but remained as a paid Ashland consultant. While the Iranians never bought the documents, they later sued Ashland and last year obtained a $325 million settlement, which with interest was worth more than $500 million. ``This episode in my life has been totally uncharacteristic to my life and what I stand for,'' Furmark told Cedarbaum. ``I am deeply sorry.'' Cedarbaum said she considered Furmark's cooperation in deciding his sentence. Furmark set up a meeting with Atkins in 1988 where they discussed renewed efforts to sell the documents Iran. A videotape of that meeting made by investigators led to charges against Atkins.
