A California businessman, Jamshid Ghomi, has been charged by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly supplying American computer networking equipment to Iran, including entities linked to the country’s nuclear and military programs.
Mr. Ghomi, 63, resides in Newport Coast, California, and holds dual citizenship in Iran and the United States. He faces conspiracy charges for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as announced on Wednesday.
Mr. Ghomi is identified as the chief executive of Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh, a technology company based in Tehran. According to a federal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Mr. Ghomi purchased large quantities of American technology from 2011 through 2023. He allegedly routed this equipment through intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates before delivering it to customers in Iran. Such exports required authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department, which was not obtained.
Federal prosecutors stated that Mr. Ghomi personally obtained restricted networking equipment, mainly through eBay, and supervised its shipment. The equipment included routers, firewalls, switches, and modules manufactured by Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, Extreme Networks, and Hewlett-Packard.
“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.
The federal complaint revealed that Mr. Ghomi’s company supplied American-made equipment to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran from 2017 through 2023. Additionally, the company sold networking, security, and encryption equipment to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and related military organizations from 2014 to 2022.
Authorities reported that Mr. Ghomi transferred proceeds from his sales into the United States via a network of companies and exchange houses across multiple countries, including the UAE, Turkey, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands.
Investigations showed that over $15 million was moved from Iran into accounts linked to Mr. Ghomi between 2011 to 2024. He reported these earnings to the IRS as a foreign inheritance but declared minimal annual income on his federal tax returns.
Mr. Ghomi recently appeared in court but has not yet entered a plea, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
This case is part of ongoing efforts by the U.S. to halt the flow of American technology to countries such as Iran, Russia, and China. The Justice and Commerce Departments have collaborated in recent years to enforce regulations limiting the transfer of critical technologies to rival nations.
Research contributors included Kitty Bennett and Kirsten Noyes. Mark Walker, a Times reporter, covers breaking news and culture.