The CEO of a Tehran-based company has been arrested for allegedly selling computer technology to Iran to help its military and nuclear program, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday.
Dual U.S.-Iranian citizen Jamshid Ghomi, 63, has been charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Ghomi allegedly sold networking, security, and encryption technology to Iranian companies and Iran’s government and significantly profited off his scheme. The tech CEO lived in a $35 million mansion in southern California purchased with "illegal proceeds," according to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Blanche added Ghomi’s assets, including the mansion, are in the process of being seized.
Ghomi is the founder, owner, and CEO of computer networking company Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd. (FPR). He used FPR to procure U.S.-origin networking equipment for customers in Iran for more than a decade, federal prosecutors said. Ghomi or his company never obtained a license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to authorize those transactions.
Some of his alleged actions include the smuggling of more than 275 tons of networking equipment into Iran from 2014 to 2018. He used freight forwarders and intermediaries in Dubai to conceal that the equipment was actually being sent to Iran, federal prosecutors said.
Wednesday's arrest is part of efforts by the DOJ to disrupt the illegal flow of American technology to foreign nations, especially U.S. adversaries.
It's unclear if Ghomi has retained legal representation.
Ghomi would face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted.