Iran Tech CEO Charged Over Sanctioned US Nuclear Procurement

The arrest of Jamshid Ghomi exposes a procurement and laundering architecture that should be familiar to anyone running sanctions controls, even as its scale and end-users mark it out. Ghomi, a dual US-Iranian national and chief executive of Tehran-based Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co Ltd (FPR), was detained on 3 June 2026 on a federal complaint alleging conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The conduct described runs the full evasion playbook. Over more than a decade, Ghomi allegedly acquired US-origin networking, security, and encryption equipment without the licence from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) require, routing goods through United Arab Emirates (UAE) intermediaries and front companies, stripping his name from shipping paperwork, omitting invoices, and concealing controlled items inside larger consignments. Early-stage purchases reportedly ran through personal eBay and PayPal accounts — a reminder that retail payment rails remain a soft entry point for diversion before volumes scale.

What elevates this beyond a standard export-control matter is the end-user profile. FPR is alleged to have supplied the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) and the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, both sanctioned, with one 2017 contract naming the defence ministry outright. That places the matter squarely in counter-proliferation finance territory.

The laundering layer is the part compliance teams will scrutinise most closely. Sales revenue was allegedly deposited into a sanctioned Iranian bank, then repatriated to the US via wires from unrelated trading companies and exchange houses across the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Turkey, and the UAE, bearing false references such as consulting fees. More than $15 million reportedly moved into US accounts and a construction escrow funding a $35 million Newport Coast residence, falsely declared to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a foreign inheritance — alongside Earned Income Tax Credit claims and near-zero reported income. The mismatch between declared earnings and asset accumulation is precisely the typology source-of-wealth and unexplained-wealth screening are built to catch.

The investigation is led by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) with the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. A complaint is an allegation only; Ghomi is presumed innocent and, if convicted, faces up to 20 years.

Read the press release here.