The New York Post reports that the Justice Department says it has thwarted an Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump in the leadup to the election.
A criminal
complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan alleges that an unnamed official
in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed a contact to put together
a plan to surveil and ultimately kill Trump.
You can read the Justice Department
press release below:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United
States, Christopher A. Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (“FBI”), James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge of the
FBI New York Field Office, and David Sundberg, Assistant Director in Charge of
the FBI Washington Field Office, announced today the filing of murder-for-hire
and related charges against FARHAD SHAKERI, CARLISLE RIVERA, a/k/a “Pop,” and
JONATHAN LOADHOLT in connection with their involvement in a plot to murder a
U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York. RIVERA was arrested in
Brooklyn, New York yesterday. SHAKERI remains at large and is believed to
reside in Iran. RIVERA and LOADHOLT were presented before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Jennifer Willis in the Southern District of New York yesterday and
ordered detained pending trial.
Attorney General
Merrick B. Garland said: “There are few actors in the world that pose as
grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does
Iran. The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime
who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to
further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including
President-elect Donald J. Trump. We have also charged and arrested two
individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and
kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of
the regime. We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to
endanger the American people and America’s national security.”
FBI Director
Christopher A. Wray said: “The charges announced
today expose Iran’s continued brazen attempts to target U.S.
citizens, including President-elect Donald J. Trump, other government
leaders, and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran. The
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – a designated foreign terrorist
organization – has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target
and gun down Americans on U.S. soil and that simply won’t be tolerated. Thanks
to the hard work of the FBI, their deadly schemes were disrupted.
We’re committed to using the full resources of the FBI to protect our citizens
from Iran or any other adversary who targets Americans.”
FBI Assistant
Director in Charge James E. Dennehy said: “These individuals allegedly
plotted to murder an American citizen – on our soil – at the direction of a
foreign terrorist organization, the IRGC. This case is an example of yet
another flagrant attempt by the Government of Iran, not merely to silence those
who speak out against them, but to take the lives of American citizens
exercising their constitutionally protected rights here in this country.
As we remain unwavering in our mission to protect the American people, the FBI
will continue to aggressively pursue justice against anyone attempting to use
violence to violate our freedoms and way of life.”
FBI Assistant
Director in Charge David Sundberg said: “The charges announced today
further demonstrate the IRGC's continued campaign to silence and kill Americans
who criticize the Iranian regime. Through collaboration with FBI New
York's Joint Terrorism Task Force and federal prosecutors at the Justice
Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we have successfully
disrupted the defendants’ alleged plots to fulfill Iran’s goals of
permanently eliminating voices of opposition. We vow to continue to work with
our partners to stop IRGC operatives and associates who seek to harm our
citizens on our soil.”
According to the
allegations contained in the Complaint charging the defendants and other public
statements and filings:[1]
SHAKERI is an
IRGC asset residing in Tehran, Iran. SHAKERI immigrated to the United
States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in
prison for a robbery conviction. In recent months, SHAKERI has used a
network of criminal associates he met in prison in the United States to supply
the IRGC with operatives to conduct surveillance and assassinations
of IRGC targets. Two members of SHAKERI’s network are his
co-defendants, LOADHOLT and RIVERA. At SHAKERI’s instruction, LOADHOLT and
RIVERA have spent months surveilling a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin residing
in the United States (“Victim-1”). Victim-1 is an outspoken critic of the
Iranian regime and has been the target of multiple prior plots for kidnapping
and/or murder directed by the Government of Iran. In exchange for
SHAKERI’s promise of $100,000, RIVERA and LOADHOLT repeatedly sought to locate
Victim-1 for murder.
During their
efforts to locate and kill Victim-1, SHAKERI, LOADHOLT, and RIVERA shared
messages about their progress and photographs relating to their scheme.
For example, in or about February 2024, RIVERA and LOADHOLT messaged about
an incoming payment from SHAKERI, and then traveled to Fairfield University,
where Victim-1 was scheduled to appear, and took photographs on campus.
In or about April 2024, SHAKERI sent RIVERA a series of voice notes discussing
their efforts to locate and kill Victim-1. In one voice note, SHAKERI
told RIVERA that Victim-1 spent most of her time in particular locations of her
home, and told RIVERA that “you just gotta have patience . . . You gotta
wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or
following her out somewhere and taking care of it. Don’t think about
going in. In is a suicide move.” On several occasions over the last
several months, consistent with this instruction from SHAKERI, RIVERA and/or
LOADHOLT have surveilled a location in Brooklyn that they had identified as
associated with Victim-1.
In addition,
according to statements made by Shakeri in recorded interviews with law
enforcement agents, the IRGC has also tasked Shakeri with carrying out other
assassinations against U.S. and Israeli citizens located in the United
States. In particular, Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was
tasked on October 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect
Donald J. Trump. During the interview, Shakeri claimed he did not intend
to propose a plan to kill Trump within the timeframe set by the IRGC. He
also stated he was tasked with surveilling two Jewish American citizens
residing in New York City and offered $500,000 by an IRGC official for the
murder of either victim. He was also tasked with targeting Israeli
tourists in Sri Lanka.
*
*
*
SHAKERI, 51, of
Iran, RIVERA, 49, of Brooklyn, New York, and LOADHOLT, 36, of Staten Island,
New York, have all been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum
penalty of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which
carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and money laundering
conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
SHAKERI has also
been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist
organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison;
providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a
maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; and conspiracy to violate the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the
Government of Iran, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The maximum
potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here
for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant would be
imposed by a judge.
Mr. Williams
praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint
Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents and analysts from
the FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department, and the FBI
Washington Field Office. Mr. Williams also thanked the Department of
Justice’s National Security Division, U.S. Customs and Border Protection New
York Field Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration New York Division, and
the New York State Police.
This case is
being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics
Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob Gutwillig and Michael Lockard, and
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Isaacson are in charge of the
prosecution, with assistance from National Security Division Trial Attorneys
Dmitry Slavin of the Counterterrorism Section, and Christopher Rigali and
Leslie Esbrook of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
The charges in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
No comments:
Post a Comment