A California technology executive and dual U.S.-Iranian national was arrested June 3 on federal charges accusing him of running a yearslong scheme to send sensitive American technology to Iran’s nuclear program and military establishment, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release.
Jamshid Ghomi, 63, of Newport Coast in Orange County, California, faces a criminal complaint charging him with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to the DOJ, Ghomi allegedly used Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd. (FPR), a Tehran-based computer networking company he founded and led, to buy U.S. computer hardware for hundreds of Iranian companies and government entities, including sanctioned entities.
The DOJ said a “relatively small but significant portion” of FPR’s business went to Iran’s nuclear and military programs, including the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and entities tied to Iran’s Ministry of Defense.
“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 in the release. “We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion.”
In a post on X, Essayli also said Ghomi will “face the full force of justice.”
The facts the case we are announcing today are shocking. Jamshid Ghomi is accused of violating U.S. sanctions laws by providing technological equipment to the government of Iran, including its military and nuclear program. He did this while living and enjoying the freedoms our… https://t.co/HsH4cPD7FF
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) June 3, 2026
Prosecutors allege Ghomi used front companies and falsified paperwork to hide the shipments and get around U.S. restrictions on exports to Iran. According to the DOJ, the scheme began as early as 2011, when Ghomi used eBay and PayPal accounts to buy computer-networking equipment and route it through intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates.
From 2014 to 2018 alone, he allegedly arranged for more than 250 metric tons of technology to be smuggled into Iran, the DOJ said. Between 2017 and 2023, FPR allegedly supplied U.S. computer networking gear to the AEOI, which registered the company as an approved vendor.
The DOJ alleged Ghomi moved more than $15 million in proceeds from Iranian sales into U.S. bank accounts and used some of the money to build a Newport Coast mansion, while reporting the funds to the IRS as a foreign inheritance. Federal agents arrested him during a predawn raid on the mansion June 3, the New York Post reported.
Ghomi is scheduled to make his initial court appearance later June 3 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.