A California businessman, Jamshid Ghomi, 63, faces federal charges for allegedly conspiring to supply restricted American computer networking equipment to entities in Iran, including those linked to the country's nuclear and military programs.
The U.S. Justice Department announced on Wednesday that Ghomi, a dual citizen of Iran and the United States and CEO of Tehran-based Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh, is accused of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. A federal complaint details a scheme, spanning from at least 2011 to 2023, where Ghomi allegedly purchased significant quantities of U.S.-manufactured technology, such as routers, firewalls, and switches from companies like Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard, routing them through intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates before delivery to Iran.
According to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Ghomi's company supplied American-made equipment to Iran's Atomic Energy Organization between 2017 and 2023, and to Iran's Ministry of Defense and affiliated military organizations from 2014 to 2022. This technology could not be legally exported to Iran without authorization from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
"Our nation’s laws prohibiting doing business with one of the world’s largest state sponsors of terrorism must be enforced and obeyed," stated Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. If convicted, Ghomi faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Federal investigators also allege that Ghomi moved over $15 million from Iran into U.S. bank accounts through a network of companies and exchange houses in locations including the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands between 2011 and 2024. He reportedly declared these funds to the IRS as foreign inheritances while reporting minimal annual income on his tax returns.
Ghomi made his initial court appearance on Wednesday, entering no plea. This case is part of a broader effort by the U.S. government to prevent the transfer of critical American technologies to countries including Iran, Russia, and China.
