A dual U.S.-Iranian citizen was arrested Wednesday on federal charges alleging he spent more than a decade supplying American computer networking equipment to Iranian government agencies — including the country’s nuclear program and military — while funneling millions in proceeds into a California mansion.
Federal prosecutors in the Central District of California charged Jamshid Ghomi, 63, with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Santa Ana.
“Our nation’s laws prohibiting doing business with one of the world’s largest state sponsors of terrorism must be enforced and obeyed,” First Assistant U.S. 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 is the founder and CEO of Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd., a Tehran-based technology company. According to the criminal complaint affidavit, he used the firm to procure U.S.-origin networking, security, and encryption equipment for Iranian customers without obtaining the required licenses from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Among the alleged customers were the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, which oversees Iran’s centrifuge and uranium-enrichment programs, and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. The State Department sanctioned the atomic energy agency in 2020 for failing to meet its nuclear commitments, including exceeding limits on uranium stockpile and enrichment levels, according to the affidavit.
From 2011 to 2023, Ghomi bought hundreds of pieces of networking equipment through his personal eBay and PayPal accounts, sending shipments to middlemen in the United Arab Emirates, according to the affidavit. Over a four-year stretch ending in 2018, he moved more than 250 metric tons of equipment into Iran, running it through Dubai freight forwarders to hide where it was headed.
Prosecutors say Ghomi took steps to conceal his activities. He directed UAE co-conspirators to keep his name off shipping documents, omit invoices from Iran-bound shipments, and on at least two occasions conceal U.S.-origin equipment inside larger cargo loads. Internal communications among those involved referred to Iran as “Motherland,” according to the affidavit.
Faraz Pardaz’s annual sales exceeded $10 million, with clients including hundreds of Iranian businesses and government entities, many of them subject to U.S. sanctions, the affidavit states.
According to prosecutors, Ghomi moved more than $15 million from Iran into his U.S. bank accounts between 2011 and 2024. The funds passed through trading companies and exchange houses in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the UAE, with wire transfers carrying false descriptions such as “Buying Goods” and “For Consulting Fees.” He allegedly reported the money to the IRS as a foreign inheritance.
Despite those transfers, Ghomi’s federal tax returns reported almost no income — his highest declared earnings in any single year were $20,684. He claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit in seven tax years. Over the same period, he reported more than $1.7 million in home-mortgage interest and $1.25 million in property taxes, according to the affidavit.
The mansion, prosecutors say, was built on the proceeds. Ghomi paid $4.49 million for a vacant lot in Newport Coast in March 2010, then spent roughly $10.49 million putting up the house. Federal authorities said Wednesday they intend to seize it.
IRS Criminal Investigation and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security are handling the investigation. If convicted, Ghomi faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Ghomi is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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