Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati, 42, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government in the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.

According to court documents, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, and obtaining open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry and providing it to Iranian intelligence officers.

In August 2017, Rahmati offered his services to the Iranian government through a senior Iranian government official who previously worked in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and with whom Rahmati had previously attended university. Four months later, in December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence operatives and government officials and agreed to obtain information about the U.S. solar energy industry, to provide that information to Iranian officials, and to conduct future communications under a cover story based on purported discussions about research with fellow academics.

Upon returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati obtained various private and open-source materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry and provided them to an official from the office of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology in response to tasking from Iranian government officials.

In response to tasking from Iranian officials, and in furtherance of his role as an agent of the Government of Iran, Rahmati exploited his employment as an FAA contractor, working for U.S. COMPANY 1, by downloading at least 172 GB of U.S. COMPANY 1 files, which included sensitive access-controlled FAA documents related to the National Aerospace System (NAS), NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems, and radio frequency data. Rahmati stored those files on removable media, which he took to Iran, where he provided sensitive documents to the Government of Iran in April 2022.

Also in April 2022, in response to tasking from Iranian government officials, Rahmati sent additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence on Rahmati’s behalf.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26. Rahmati faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and up to five years in prison for conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with significant assistance from the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Tortorice and Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Source: United States Department of Justice

Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the same, for his participation in a scheme to coerce repatriation of a U.S. resident to the PRC as part of its international repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” McMahon and co-defendants Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, and Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, were convicted by a federal jury in June 2023 following a three-week trial. In January 2025, Zhu and Zheng were sentenced respectively to 24 months and 16 months in prison.

As proven at trial, between approximately 2016 and 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil, and intimidate John Doe #1 and his family in order to force him and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to the PRC to face purported corruption charges. Beginning in 2012, John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 had been targeted for repatriation as part of the PRC’s transnational repression programs known as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Sky Net.” John Doe #1 and his family had accordingly sought to keep their address out of public records.

Zhu hired McMahon, a retired NYPD sergeant working as a private investigator, to locate John Doe #1. McMahon obtained sensitive information about John Doe #1, which he then reported back to Zhu and others, including a PRC police officer. McMahon also conducted surveillance outside the New Jersey home of John Doe #1’s relative and provided Zhu and PRC officials with detailed reports of what he observed. The operation was supervised and directed by several PRC officials, including a PRC police officer and a PRC prosecutor.

As McMahon knew, the operation was intended not only to locate John Doe #1, but to coerce him to return to the PRC by exerting pressure on his family members. In April 2017, PRC officials threatened to jail John Doe #1’s sister, who lived in the PRC, in order to coerce John Doe #1’s then-82-year-old father to travel from the PRC to their relative’s home in New Jersey. John Doe #1’s father, who had recently suffered a brain hemorrhage, was so frail that a doctor accompanied him for the trip. McMahon followed John Doe #1’s father from the relative’s New Jersey home, and, by doing so, was able to learn John Doe #1’s address. McMahon immediately provided this information to a PRC operative.

On Sept. 4, 2018, Zheng and another co-conspirator drove to the New Jersey residence of John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 – at the address that McMahon had provided – where they pounded on the front door, attempted to enter the house, and then peered through the windows in the back of the home. They left a note on the front door informing John Doe #1 that his “wife and children will be okay” if John Doe #1 surrendered himself to face a ten-year prison term in the PRC.

McMahon knew that the subjects of his investigation were wanted by the PRC government, a fact that he texted about with another investigator he contracted to help him. Following his arrest, McMahon acknowledged knowing that his employers wanted to get the victim back to China “so they could prosecute him.” After providing the victims’ address, McMahon told his surveillance partner that he was “waiting for a call” to find out what to do next. McMahon’s partner responded, “Yeah. From NJ State Police about an abduction,” to which McMahon responded “Lol.”  McMahon later suggested to a PRC co-conspirator that they “harass” John Doe #1 by “[p]ark[ing] outside his home and let[ting] him know we are there.” McMahon took other investigative steps designed to harass the victims, such as researching their daughter’s university residence and college major. McMahon was paid more than $19,000 in total for his role in the illegal repatriation scheme. In an apparent attempt to conceal the source, McMahon deposited payments from his PRC clients into his son’s bank account, the only time he had done so with client payments.

Previously, three co-defendants pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the PRC-directed harassment and intimidation campaign. They are awaiting sentencing.

Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.

The FBI New York Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith A. Arfa and Irisa Chen for the Eastern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Christine A. Bonomo and Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Paralegal Specialist Rebecca Roth for the Eastern District of New York provided valuable assistance.

The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the United States. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit the FBI’s website.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

A federal jury convicted a medical doctor yesterday for his participation in conspiracies to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and to unlawfully distribute controlled substances.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Neil K. Anand M.D., 48, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, conspired to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, health plans provided by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Independence Blue Cross (IBC), and Anthem, for “Goody Bags” of medically unnecessary prescription medications, which were dispensed to patients by in-house pharmacies owned by Anand. As the evidence at trial showed, the conspirators required patients to take the Goody Bags, which they did not need or want, to receive prescriptions for controlled substances. In total, Medicare, OPM, IBC, and Anthem paid over $2.3 million for the Goody Bags. Anand also conspired to distribute oxycodone outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose. In furtherance of the conspiracy, unlicensed medical interns wrote prescriptions for controlled substances using blank prescriptions that were pre-signed by Anand. Anand prescribed 20,850 oxycodone tablets for nine different patients, as part of the scheme. After learning that he was under investigation, Anand concealed the proceeds of the fraud by transferring approximately $1.2 million into an account in the name of his father and for the benefit of his minor daughter.

Anand was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud; three counts of health care fraud; one count of money laundering; four counts of unlawful monetary transactions; and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 19 and faces a statutory maximum penalty of 130 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG); Special Agent in Charge Kathleen Woodson of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (U.S. Postal Service OIG); and Special Agent in Charge of Investigative Operations Derek Holt of the OPM-Office of the Inspector General (OPM-OIG) made the announcement.

The HHS-OIG, U.S. Postal Service OIG, and OPM OIG investigated the case.  FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office provided valuable assistance.

Trial Attorneys Paul J. Koob, Patrick J. Campbell, and Arun Bodapati of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Aghorn Operating Inc., an oilfield company, Trent Day, an executive of Aghorn, and Kodiak Roustabout Inc., entered guilty pleas and were sentenced yesterday in relation to criminal worker safety and federal clean air and safe drinking water violations. According to court documents, Aghorn owns and operates oil wells in and near Odessa, Texas. Odessa is in the Permian basin where oil reserves are “sour,” meaning they have high hydrogen sulfide content. Hydrogen sulfide gas can be deadly at high concentrations.

The case leading to these pleas is the result of an investigation of the Oct. 26, 2019, death of Aghorn employee Jacob Dean and his wife Natalee Dean. Both were overcome by hydrogen sulfide at an Aghorn facility in Odessa.

Day agreed to plead guilty to a Clean Air Act (CAA) negligent endangerment charge and serve five months in prison. Aghorn pleaded guilty to CAA negligent endangerment and an Occupational Safety and Health Act willful violation count for the death of Jacob Dean. Kodiak pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act for falsifying oil well integrity tests. Aghorn will pay a $1 million criminal fine and Kodiak will pay a $400,000 criminal fine. These pleas were made under agreements the defendants entered into with the United States. Under the agreements, other pending charges will be dismissed. Yesterday, the court accepted the defendants’ guilty pleas and sentenced them in accordance with their plea agreements.

“Through these guilty pleas, the defendants accept responsibility for allowing hazards that should have been prevented,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). “If they had done what the law requires, Jacob and Natalee might still be with us today. The Justice Department can’t stand by when employers put workers at such risk.”

“Energy production is vital, but it must be done competently and lawfully,” said Acting Assistant Administrator Jeffrey Hall of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Operators who gravely endanger and kill others and those who lie to the government will be held accountable for their criminal conduct. EPA’s criminal investigation of these tragic deaths led to today’s plea deal.”

According to a factual statement accepted by Day and Aghorn, Jacob Dean responded to a call to check a pump at an Aghorn facility. There, he encountered deadly hydrogen sulfide gas, was overcome, and died. His wife, Natalee Dean, knew where Jacob had gone and started calling him when he did not return in a timely manner. When those calls went unanswered, Natalee drove to the facility. When Natalee arrived at the facility, she was also overcome while looking for Jacob and died.

Trent Day admitted that he should have controlled hydrogen sulfide emissions as part of his duties and that because he did not, he placed others in imminent danger of death. Aghorn admitted the same criminal negligence and to a separate charge that it willfully violated the Occupational Safety and Health Act regulations requiring companies to implement respiratory protection programs to address hazards like those at the facility. In addition to paying a $1 million fine, the company will maintain a set of improvements it made after the tragedy during its period of probation.

The investigation also uncovered false statements by Kodiak about injection well testing related to Aghorn’s oil operations. The mechanical integrity of an injection well must be evaluated by conducting pressure tests. These tests are part of programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent leaks from those wells. Such leaks could, under some circumstances, contaminate groundwater. In its plea agreement, Kodiak admitted that it sent forms and charts to the Texas Railroad Commission, claiming they were tests for specific wells when Kodiak knew they were not actual records of tests of those wells. Kodiak, in addition to its $400,000 fine, will guarantee that at least 33 tests conducted for Aghorn wells during its year of probation are witnessed or conducted by a third party.

The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case. The Justice Department and EPA would like to thank the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Railroad Commission, Ector County Environmental, and the Odessa Fire Department for their support of the investigation.

Senior Trial Attorney Christopher Costantini, Trial Attorney Mark Romley, and Assistant Section Chief Thomas T. Ballantine of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the case.  

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

On April 1, seven individuals in Georgia and Mexico were indicted by a federal grand jury seated in the Northern District of Georgia related to a drug trafficking and money laundering ring tied to a Mexico-based trafficker. Five of these defendants, all of Norcross, Georgia — Sandra Beatriz Hernandez Chilel, 49; Karina Beatriz Perez Hernandez, 22; David Miranda Vinalay, 39; Jerome Lewis, 47; and Irving Joel Hernandez, 34 — were arrested earlier today in a coordinated effort by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and local law enforcement. The defendants were arraigned before a U.S. Magistrate Judge following their arrests.

“Thanks to the great investigative work of our federal partners and local law enforcement, five individuals working on behalf of the violent Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) have been taken off our streets,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We will not allow these criminal enterprises to continue profiting off of the death and destruction of American lives.”

“The defendants allegedly trafficked high volumes of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into our community and then laundered the illicit proceeds of their activities as directed by a Mexico-based drug trafficker, including more than $1 million during a mere two-month period,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Richard S. Moultrie Jr. for the Northern District of Georgia. “Although these individuals took great measures to conceal their alleged criminal conduct, a determined and coordinated effort by our federal and local law enforcement partners helped to secure the federal charges in this case.”

“The deadly impact of fentanyl on our communities is devastating,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jae W. Chung of the DEA’s Atlanta Division. “These arrests should be a clear message to the traffickers that keeping our communities safe is our highest priority.”

“Using our expertise in financial investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation is following the money, despite attempts by criminals to cover their tracks,” said Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman of IRS-CI’s Atlanta Field Office. “IRS Criminal Investigation special agents in partnerships with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement agencies, will continue our work investigating and holding accountable those responsible for bringing dangerous drugs into our communities.”

According to Acting U.S. Attorney Moultrie for the Northern District of Georgia, the indictment, and other information presented in court: In September 2024, the DEA uncovered a scheme involving drug traffickers delivering bulk currency from drug sales to a middleman in Norcross. The middleman then allegedly delivered the drug proceeds to defendants Sandra Beatriz Hernandez Chilel (Chilel) and her daughter Karina Beatriz Perez Hernandez (Perez), who then laundered the proceeds as directed by a Mexico-based drug trafficker. Chilel and Perez allegedly operated a money service business (MSB) in Norcross called “La Pulga Esperenza.”

Between September and November 2024, DEA saw several traffickers deliver hundreds of thousands of dollars of suspected drug proceeds to the middleman in Norcross, who then transferred the cash to Chilel and Perez. Agents with IRS-CI analyzed the MSB’s transactions and determined that the cash was wired to Mexico but was transferred in small increments so as not to raise suspicion by federal regulators. During a period of approximately two months, this ring of individuals allegedly laundered over $1 million in drug proceeds smuggled to Mexico.

During the investigation, the DEA identified several alleged traffickers who transported the drug proceeds to Norcross, including defendants David Miranda Vinalay, Jerome Lewis, and Irving Joel Hernandez. DEA identified one of the primary traffickers as being a member or associate of the CJNG. Additionally, as alleged in the indictment, some of the traffickers also possessed methamphetamine and fentanyl that they intended to distribute on behalf of the drug trafficking ring.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment only contains charges. The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the DEA and IRS-CI. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Georgia State Patrol, Dekalb County, Georgia, Police Department, Gwinnett County, Georgia, Police Department, and Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bethany L. Rupert and Dwayne A. Brown Jr. for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Justice Department to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

This effort is part of an OCDETF operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.