The owner of Primex International Trading Company, Inc., or Pitco, a food distribution company located near Los Angeles International Airport, has pleaded guilty to tax fraud and federal charges of operating an unlicensed business through which more than $17 million was transferred between the United States and Iran.

Ali Amin, 57, also failed to report to the Internal Revenue Service that he had Swiss bank accounts and did not report around $3.4 million in income between 2007 and 2011, according to the Department of Justice.

In addition to Pitco, which produces and distributes dried fruit and nuts, Amin owns a 50 percent interest in a pistachio company called Amin Padidar Ltd., which is based in Tehran, according to investigators.

The Bel Air resident used that company’s bank accounts as well as Pitco’s and a Swiss account to transfer money from Iran to the United States between 2007 and 2011. The money went to Amin’s family members and friends, authorities said.

Pitco spokesman Martin Von Ruden said Amin declined to comment.

Amin is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2016 and faces a maximum sentence of 18 years.