Overview
- Federal agents arrested Jamshid Ghomi and charged him with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after a complaint filed by prosecutors; he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
- Prosecutors allege Ghomi used consumer marketplaces like eBay and PayPal, UAE-based front companies, freight forwarders, falsified shipping paperwork, and direct supplier orders to hide shipments of U.S.-origin equipment to Iran.
- Court filings say more than 250 metric tons of networking gear were moved into Iran between 2014 and 2018 and that Ghomi’s Tehran firm sold equipment to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and to entities tied to Iran’s Ministry of Defense.
- Investigators say Ghomi funneled more than $15 million from Iran into U.S. accounts, disguised the funds on tax filings, underreported income while claiming tax credits, and used proceeds to fund construction of a Newport Coast mansion now targeted for forfeiture.
- The case, led by IRS Criminal Investigation with the Commerce Department and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and DOJ national security lawyers, spotlights supply-chain and platform vulnerabilities and fits into a wider federal effort to disrupt Iranian procurement networks.