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 New York City says an unnamed official in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had asked Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, in September to "focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."
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"There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "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 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," Garland added. "We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security."
The Justice Department says Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to be living in Iran, "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."
"Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump," it added.
Trump was referred to in court filings as "Victim-4."
"According to Shakeri, during his meeting with IRGC Official-I on or about October 7, 2024, IRGC Official-I directed Shakeri to provide a plan within seven days to kill Victim-4. If Shakeri was unable to put forth a plan within that timeframe, IRGC Official-I continued, the IRGC would pause its plan to kill Victim-4 until after the U.S. Presidential elections, because IRGC Official-I assessed that Victim-4 would lose the election and, afterward, it would be easier to assassinate Victim-4," the documents said.
"[Shakeri] 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," the Justice Department added.
Federal prosecutors also have charged and arrested Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, N.Y."in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin in New York."
"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," the Justice Department said. "In exchange for Shakeri’s promise of $100,000, Rivera and Loadholt repeatedly sought to locate Victim-1 for murder."
Prosecutors say that 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," according to the Justice Department. "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.’"
All three suspects are now facing charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy, which carry maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison.
Shakeri has also been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran, which each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to prosecutors.
