Due to his provision of computer hardware for Iran’s military and nuclear programs, a California IT boss has been placed under arrest.
On Wednesday morning, 63-year-old dual Iranian-American Jamshid Ghomi was hauled out of his $35 million Newport Beach estate while handcuffed.
After providing networking, security, and encryption equipment to Iran for over ten years, he is accused of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
According to the Department of Justice, the equipment was given to the Iranian Ministry of Defense and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
From 2011 to 2015, Ghomi made over 400 purchases using his PayPal and eBay accounts, which were processed via middlemen in the United Arab Emirates.
Between 2014 and 2018, freighters in Dubai smuggled more than 250 metric tons of networking equipment into Iran.
With yearly sales exceeding $10 million, Ghomi allegedly utilized his business, Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh, as a vehicle for the smuggling activity.
In their private correspondence, he and his accomplices referred to Iran as “Motherland.”
The Department of Justice said on Wednesday that Jamshid Ghomi, 63, a dual Iranian-American resident of Newport Coast, California, is accused of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Ghomi’s greatest stated income in any year was $20,684, yet his federal tax returns showed virtually nil income.Ghomi used the money from his alleged crimes to build a massive mansion in seven tax years while claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, a benefit for low-income taxpayers.
On October 13, 2024, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, attends a meeting in Tehran.
He claimed to the IRS that the $15 million he transferred from Iran into US accounts—allegedly laundered through shell corporations in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates—was a foreign bequest.
Ghomi’s highest income in any year was only $20,684, and his federal tax returns showed virtually little income.
Ghomi used the money from his alleged crimes to build a massive mansion in seven tax years while claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, a benefit for low-income taxpayers.
Situated on a bluff with a view of the Pacific Ocean, the expansive 14,000-square-foot property is guarded by iron gates.
“We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion,” stated First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli.
Ghomi, who was supposed to appear in Santa Ana court today afternoon, could spend up to 20 years behind bars.
