Jamshid Ghomi Accused of Funding Iran Tech Pipeline
Federal prosecutors say an Iranian-American businessman turned a tech supply operation into a money-making pipeline for Iran’s military and nuclear network. The case centers on Jamshid Ghomi, 63, who lives in Newport Coast, California, and now faces a conspiracy charge tied to U.S. sanctions violations.
According to court documents, Ghomi used his Tehran-based company, Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd., to buy restricted American networking, security, and encryption gear and then move it through intermediaries in the United Arab Emirates to customers in Iran. Prosecutors say some of those customers were tied to Iran’s military and nuclear enrichment programs.
“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,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in a statement.
Authorities say the operation lasted for years and brought in millions of dollars. They allege Ghomi then worked to hide where the money came from by moving it through offshore companies and exchange houses in places like the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the UAE.
Prosecutors say more than $15 million tied to the business flowed into American financial accounts over a 13-year stretch. Some of that money, they allege, was used to help pay for construction of Ghomi’s Newport Coast mansion. The home is described as a 14,000-square-foot residence worth about $35 million. Ghomi reportedly bought the vacant lot in 2010 for around $4.5 million and spent more than $10 million building the house.
Investigators also say the transfers were masked with vague labels such as “Buying Goods” and “For Consulting Fees.” They further allege Ghomi told the IRS the money was a foreign inheritance while reporting very little income on his tax returns. Court records say his highest reported annual income was about $20,684, and that he claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit in multiple years.
The government says the equipment was not going to ordinary buyers. Prosecutors allege FPR supplied American-made networking and security products to sensitive Iranian entities, including the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, and Iran Computer Industries. They say the AEOI received U.S.-origin networking equipment from 2017 through 2023.
“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,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said. “Our nation’s laws prohibiting doing business with one of the world’s largest state sponsors of terrorism must be enforced and obeyed.”
Prosecutors also say Ghomi supplied more than 250 metric tons of networking and computer equipment to Iran between 2014 and 2018. The case is part of a broader federal crackdown on Iranian procurement networks and alleged efforts to get sensitive U.S. technology into the hands of sanctioned groups.
The allegations remain just that for now, but the scale of the case is hard to miss: restricted American gear, offshore money movement, a luxury California mansion, and a trail of transfers that investigators say tied the whole thing together.