By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-03 19:34:34 | Updated at 2026-06-07 15:26:33
3 days ago
A California tech boss accused of arming Iran's nuclear and military machine has been dragged from his $35 million ocean-view mansion in handcuffs.
Jamshid Ghomi, 63, a dual Iranian-US national, sold sophisticated American networking, security and encryption gear to the regime for more than a decade, prosecutors allege.
He is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, with the equipment flowing to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the regime's Ministry of Defense, the Department of Justice said.
He and his co-conspirators referred to Iran as 'Motherland' in their private communications.
Ghomi made more than 400 purchases on his eBay and PayPal accounts from 2011 to 2015, which were routed through intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates.
More than 250 metric tons of networking kit was smuggled into Iran between 2014 and 2018 using freight forwarders in Dubai.
Ghomi allegedly used his company, Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh, as the vehicle for the smuggling operation, with annual sales topping $10 million.
Ghomi told the IRS the more than $15 million he moved from Iran into US accounts was a foreign inheritance, with the cash allegedly laundered through shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey and the UAE.
Jamshid Ghomi, 63, a dual Iranian-US of Newport Coast, California, is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Department of Justice announced Wednesday
Ghomi’s federal tax returns reported almost no income, his highest reported income in any year being $20,684. While claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, a break for low-income earners, in seven tax year, Ghomi built a huge mansion from the proceeds of his alleged crimes
Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of late Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran, October 13, 2024
Ghomi’s federal tax returns reported almost no income, his highest income in any year was just $20,684.
Ghomi claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit, a break for low-income earners, in seven separate tax years, even as he built a vast mansion with the proceeds of his alleged crimes.
The sprawling 14,000-square-foot home, with iron gates guarding the estate, sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said: 'We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion.'
Ghomi, who was scheduled to appear at court in Santa Ana this afternoon, faces up to 20 years in jail.
