Federal prosecutors allege Jamshid Ghomi, 63—a dual U.S.-Iranian national who resides in Newport Coast—used his company Faraz Pardaz Rayaneh Co. Ltd., based in Tehran, to smuggle over 250 metric tons of U.S.-origin networking equipment into Iran from 2014 through 2018. The Justice Department states Ghomi facilitated these transfers without securing authorization from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), directing sophisticated technology to Iran’s nuclear establishment and military apparatus.

According to a federal complaint, Ghomi operated his own eBay and PayPal accounts from 2011 to 2023 to route shipments through United Arab Emirates intermediaries before delivering the equipment to Iranian entities. Prosecutors claim the goods reached the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran between 2017 and 2023 and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics as early as 2014.

The DOJ further alleges Ghomi moved more than $15 million from Iran into U.S. bank accounts and a construction escrow account between 2011 and 2024, falsely reporting these funds to the IRS as foreign inheritance. His federal tax returns show minimal reported income—peaking at $20,684—with seven separate claims of the Earned Income Tax Credit, a benefit designed for low- and moderate-income workers. Over the same period, Ghomi listed over $1.7 million in home-mortgage interest and $1.25 million in state and local real-estate taxes on his returns.

Ghomi purchased a vacant lot in Newport Coast in March 2010 for $4,490,000 and paid approximately $10,490,371 to construct the residence between 2010 and 2013. Federal authorities trace over $7 million in foreign-source wire transfers from 2011 to 2015 directly funding this property through accounts linked to Ghomi’s sanctions-evasion scheme.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed federal efforts are underway to seize the $35 million mansion, citing Ghomi’s violations of U.S. sanctions law and his use of illicit financial channels to amass assets in California.