A California tech boss has been arrested over supplying computer hardware for use in Iran’s military and nuclear programs.
Jamshid Ghomi, 63, a dual Iranian-US national was dragged out of his $35 million Newport Beach mansion in handcuffs on Wednesday morning.
He is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after selling networking, security and encryption gear to Iran for more than a decade.
The equipment went to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Iran’s Ministry of Defense, the Department of Justice said.
Ghomi made more than 400 purchases from his eBay and PayPal accounts from 2011 to 2015, which were routed through intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates.
More than 250 metric tons of networking kit was smuggled into Iran from 2014 to 2018 via freighters in Dubai.
Ghomi allegedly used his company, Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh, as the vehicle for the smuggling operation, with annual sales topping $10 million.
He and his co-conspirators referred to Iran as ‘Motherland’ in their private communications.
Jamshid Ghomi, 63, a dual Iranian-US of Newport Coast, California, is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Department of Justice announced Wednesday
Ghomi’s federal tax returns reported almost no income, his highest reported income in any year being $20,684. While claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, a break for low-income earners, in seven tax year, Ghomi built a huge mansion from the proceeds of his alleged crimes
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of late Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran, October 13, 2024
While moving $15 million from Iran into US accounts, allegedly laundered through shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey and the UAE, he told the IRS the money was a foreign inheritance.
Ghomi’s federal tax returns reported almost no income, his highest reported income in any year being $20,684.
While claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, a break for low-income earners, in seven tax year, Ghomi built a huge mansion from the proceeds of his alleged crimes.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said: ‘We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion.’
Ghomi, who was scheduled to appear at court in Santa Ana this afternoon, faces up to 20 years in jail.
