Overview
- Jonathan Loadholt, 37, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit stalking and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the plot, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
- Prosecutors say the operation was directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and that Loadholt was recruited by Carlisle Rivera with funds sent by an IRGC-linked intermediary.
- Rivera pleaded guilty earlier and received a 15-year term for conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, while the alleged recruiter, Farhad Shakeri, remains at large and is accused of arranging payments from Iran.
- Investigators say Loadholt and Rivera used money from Shakeri to buy a firearm and burner phones, conducted months of surveillance including following the target to a February 2024 event at Fairfield University, and law enforcement recovered ammunition after Loadholt’s November 7, 2024 arrest.
- The FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force led the probe with federal and local partners, and prosecutors say the case is part of a multi-year pattern of Iran-linked plots against Masih Alinejad that U.S. authorities continue to investigate.