A dual U.S.-Iranian citizen and technology executive living in a $35 million mansion in Orange County, California, was arrested Wednesday on federal charges alleging he spent more than a decade secretly funneling American computer technology — including equipment tied to Iran’s nuclear and military programs — to one of the United States’ most dangerous adversaries, all while hiding his wealth behind falsified tax returns and foreign front companies.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the arrest in a post on X on June 3, 2026, writing that the defendant had been charged with “selling computer technology to Iranian companies and Iran’s government — including technology to help with Iran’s military and nuclear program.” Blanche made clear the government’s intentions extended beyond criminal prosecution, stating the Justice Department was simultaneously moving to strip the defendant of his most visible symbol of ill-gotten wealth. “Not only is he being arrested today, but we also are beginning the process of seizing his mansion, which was purchased with his illegal proceeds,” Blanche wrote.
The Full Post From Acting AG Todd Blanche
Blanche published the following statement in full on June 3, 2026:
“Today, Jamshid Ghomi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who lives in a $35 million mansion in Orange County, California, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with selling computer technology to Iranian companies and Iran’s government — including technology to help with Iran’s military and nuclear program. These allegations assert that the defendant violated U.S. sanctions against Iran, aided one of our nation’s enemies, supported Iran’s nuclear program, and got rich doing it. Not only is he being arrested today, but we also are beginning the process of seizing his mansion, which was purchased with his illegal proceeds. Thanks to the work of @USAttyEssayli’s office, @CommerceGov, and @IRS_CI’s Los Angeles Field Office, he will face the full force of justice.”
Who Is Jamshid Ghomi
Jamshid Ghomi, 63, of Newport Coast, California, is charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Ghomi is the founder, owner, and CEO of Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd. (FPR), a Tehran-based computer networking company. For more than a decade, Ghomi used FPR to procure U.S.-origin networking equipment for customers in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. FPR’s annual sales exceeded $10 million and ran to hundreds of Iranian companies and government entities, many of which were subject to U.S. sanctions.
The Allegations: A Decade-Long Sanctions Evasion Scheme
From 2011 to 2015, Ghomi used his own eBay and PayPal accounts to make more than 400 purchases of computer-networking equipment, directing the goods to intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates. In 2023, Ghomi personally negotiated the purchase of U.S.-origin networking equipment directly from suppliers in Minnesota and Nebraska, routing it through a UAE front company and on to FPR in Iran.
From 2014 to 2018, Ghomi arranged the smuggling of more than 250 metric tons of networking equipment into Iran, using freight forwarders and intermediaries in Dubai to disguise that Iran was the true destination. Authorities allege he knew full well the conduct was illegal. He directed his UAE co-conspirators to keep his name off shipping paperwork, to omit invoices from shipments bound for Iran, and on at least two occasions to hide U.S.-origin computer equipment inside larger shipments. He used front companies in the UAE to obscure his role, and he personally received warnings on invoices and software licenses that exporting these goods to Iran was prohibited. Ghomi and his co-conspirators referred to Iran as “Motherland” in their internal correspondence concerning the equipment’s procurement.
Supplying Iran’s Nuclear Program and Ministry of Defense
The most alarming portion of the federal complaint centers on who, specifically, was on the receiving end of Ghomi’s technology transfers. From 2017 to 2023, FPR supplied U.S.-origin computer networking equipment to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) — the Iranian government agency responsible for Iran’s nuclear program, including its centrifuge and uranium-enrichment programs. The U.S. State Department sanctioned AEOI in 2020 for playing a leading role in Iran’s nonperformance of its nuclear commitments, including exceeding the limits on its uranium stockpile and enrichment levels.
From 2014 to 2022, FPR supplied U.S.-origin networking, security, and encryption equipment to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics — the Iranian ministry responsible for research, development, and manufacturing across Iran’s defense enterprise — and to affiliated military and defense-electronics entities. FPR’s 2017 contract with Iran Computer Industries, signed by Ghomi, expressly identified the buyer as the “Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics — Iran Computer Industries.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg was direct in his assessment of what those transfers represented. “As alleged, Ghomi enriched himself by supplying U.S. technology to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and other sanctioned entities responsible for Iran’s nuclear program,” Eisenberg said. “The National Security Division will hold accountable those who violate our laws to further Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
Money Laundering and a Fraudulent Tax Record
Ghomi laundered the proceeds of his illegal business into the United States, depositing FPR’s Iranian sales revenue into its operating account at a sanctioned Iranian bank and then sweeping those funds to himself. Within days, he received corresponding wires into his U.S. accounts from a rotating set of unrelated trading companies and exchange houses in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the UAE. Those wires bore false descriptions such as “Buying Goods” and “For Consulting Fees.”
The financial deception extended to his tax filings. From 2011 to 2024, Ghomi moved more than $15 million from Iran into his U.S. bank accounts and into a construction escrow account held on his behalf. He falsely reported those funds to the IRS as a foreign inheritance. Ghomi’s federal tax returns reported almost no income, his highest reported income in any year being $20,684. Ghomi claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit — a federal tax break for low- to moderate-income working individuals and families — in seven different tax years. Over the same period, Ghomi reported more than $1.7 million in home-mortgage interest and $1.25 million in state and local real-estate taxes on his federal income tax returns.
The $35 Million Mansion
Ghomi funded the construction of his Orange County mansion with the proceeds of his sanctions-evasion scheme. Ghomi purchased a vacant lot in Newport Coast in March 2010 for $4,490,000 and paid approximately $10,490,371 to construct the residence from 2010 to 2013. From May 2011 to August 2015, foreign-source wires totaling more than $7 million flowed into the escrow account funding the home’s construction. Federal authorities announced Wednesday that the process of seizing the property is now underway.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, whose office spearheaded the prosecution, was blunt about what the case represents. “Ghomi is accused of aiding our declared enemies by selling U.S.-origin computer networking parts to Iran and earning millions of dollars in violation of U.S. sanction laws. Our nation’s laws prohibiting doing business with one of the world’s largest state sponsors of terrorism must be enforced and obeyed. We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion.”
The Investigators Behind the Case
Acting Special Agent in Charge Darren Lian of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office, one of the agencies credited by Blanche in his X post, described the scope of the financial concealment at play. “As alleged, Mr. Ghomi spent years exploiting United States financial systems and procurement channels to move controlled equipment to Iran while hiding his activities behind front companies and falsified documentation. We will continue to work with our partners to safeguard national security by utilizing our financial investigative expertise,” Lian said. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation in coordination with the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
What He Now Faces
Ghomi made his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The Justice Department’s National Security Division Counterintelligence and Export Control Section is assisting in the prosecution. As Acting AG Blanche made clear Wednesday morning, the U.S. government is pursuing every available avenue — criminal, financial, and civil — against a man accused of arming an enemy while living in luxury on American soil. “He will face the full force of justice,” Blanche wrote.