As ABC News reported, California CEO accused Jamshid Ghomi was charged by federal prosecutors with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran after allegedly arranging sales and shipments of American computer networking equipment to Iranian customers and government groups. Ghomi, 63, appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, and did not enter a plea.
The charge concerns an alleged operation that prosecutors say ran for more than a decade. Ghomi founded and led Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd., a Tehran-based computer networking company. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli alleged that Ghomi procured American equipment and arranged its shipment to the Middle East without U.S. government approval.
California CEO Accused in Sanctions Case
According to prosecutors, Ghomi used eBay and PayPal accounts from 2011 to 2023 to buy networking equipment from U.S. suppliers. He allegedly sent the goods to middlemen in the United Arab Emirates, then used a front company to ship them to Iran.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Ghomi directed UAE co-conspirators to keep his name off shipping paperwork and omit invoices from shipments bound for Iran. The office also alleged that, on at least two occasions, they concealed U.S.-origin computer equipment inside larger shipments.
Prosecutors allege that the company’s Iranian clients included government groups and that annual sales exceeded $10 million. From 2014 to 2022, the company allegedly sold networking, security and encryption equipment to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. Prosecutors also allege that Ghomi sold computer networking equipment to Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2017 to 2023.
Prosecutors Allege Transfers Funded Orange County Home
Prosecutors say Ghomi laundered sales proceeds in the United States and used some of the money toward a mansion in Orange County. They allege that he moved more than $15 million from Iran to American bank accounts and a construction escrow account between 2011 and 2024.
According to prosecutors, Ghomi bought a vacant lot in Newport Coast in 2010 for nearly $4.5 million. He allegedly spent over $10 million across three years building the mansion. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said foreign-source wires totaling more than $7 million flowed into the escrow account from May 2011 to August 2015.
The office said those wires came from many of the same trading companies as transfers from the operating account of Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh. It also said the transactions were handled by the same company employees and carried false descriptions. These are allegations in the government’s account of the case.
Essayli said the federal government is working to seize the mansion. Ghomi’s attorney information was not immediately available, according to ABC News. The report did not include a response from Ghomi.
The case adds another alleged export and sanctions dispute involving a California executive to Grit Daily’s coverage of a separate California CEO case. That article concerns prosecutors’ allegations about Nvidia servers routed to China. The Ghomi allegations concern computer equipment allegedly shipped to Iran.
Other coverage has examined California’s support for Nikola, including subsidies for truck purchases, and fraud charges against a business co-founder. Those reports describe different matters and are not connected to the Ghomi case.
Ghomi’s arraignment is set for July 13. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the conspiracy charge, ABC News reported. The report does not state the year for the arraignment date. Ghomi has not entered a plea, and the allegations remain accusations.
