Dual U.S.-Iranian Citizen Charged with Supplying Equipment to Iran's Nuclear Program

A Newport Beach man has been charged with violating U.S. sanctions against Iran by supplying American security and encryption equipment to the Iranian regime, the U.S.

Department of Justice announced Wednesday. Jamshid Ghomi, 63, was arrested by federal authorities for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which prohibits Americans from directly or indirectly exporting or supplying any goods or technology to the government of Iran.

Ghomi, who owns a Tehran-based computer networking company, allegedly used his business to obtain networking equipment from the U.S. and then supplied it to Iran, including the Iranian military and nuclear program, for more than a decade, according to the DOJ.

Large quantities of U.S. technology were purchased using his eBay and PayPal accounts, with some items coming directly from suppliers in Minnesota and Nebraska before being routed to the United Arab Emirates.

From 2014 to 2018, Ghomi arranged the smuggling of more than 250 metric tons (275.6 U.S. tons) of networking equipment into Iran, using freight forwarders and intermediaries in Dubai to disguise the true destination, the DOJ said.

The dual citizen was never registered with the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to conduct foreign transactions. The proceeds from the sales, estimated at more than $15 million over a 13-year period, were transferred to his U.S.

accounts via exchange companies in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the UAE. Ghomi is also accused of failing to report the income as a foreign inheritance to the IRS.

With the sales revenue, the Orange County man allegedly purchased land and built a mansion in Newport Coast. If convicted, Ghomi faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.