An Iranian intelligence official and three others were charged with conspiring to kidnap a U.S. citizen born in Iran who is a critic of the country’s government.
The intelligence official, Alireza Shahvaroghi Farahani, 50, directs a network that has targeted victims in the U.S., France and the United Arab Emirates, U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan said. They claim the plot is part of “a scheme by the Islamic Republic of Iran to target dissidents who oppose the regime’s violations of human rights, suppression of democratic participation and freedom of expression and corruption.”
Farahani and three members of his intelligence network planned to kidnap the U.S. citizen — a journalist, author and human rights activist who lives in Brooklyn but wasn’t identified by prosecutors — as part of a government program to silence its critics. They’re charged with kidnapping conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, sanctions violations conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.
Charged with Farahani in the kidnapping conspiracy are Mahmoud Khazein, 42, Kiya Sadeghi, 35, and Omid Noori, 45. All four are based in Iran and outside U.S. custody, according to prosecutors. The charges against them carry a maximum of life in prison.
A California resident, Niloufar “Nellie” Bahadorifar, 46, is accused of providing the other four with financial services.
Bahadorifar was arrested July 1 in California on charges she aided the group by paying a private investigator to track the U.S. citizen on Farahani’s behalf. She’s charged with conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud, to violate sanctions against Iran and to launder money. Bahadorifar is not charged with participating in the kidnapping plot. She’s free on $250,000 bond.
Bahadorifar’s lawyer, Martin Cohen, declined to comment on the charges.
Prosecutors say Farahani and his network have plotted since June 2020 to kidnap the Brooklyn resident, hiring investigators to conduct surveillance and take photographs and video recordings of the journalist and their family at home. The group disguised their identities and lied to the investigators about the purpose of the surveillance, according to the government.
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