STATEN ISLAND, NY — A Staten Island man is among those accused of participating in an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill a U.S. citizen of Iranian descent.

Jonathan Loadholt, 36, was arrested on Staten Island on Thursday and is accused of participating in a conspiracy to spy on and eventually kill the outspoken critic of the Iranian regime. US Department of Justice.

According to federal officials, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is actively targeting U.S. citizens and their allies living in countries around the world in an attempt to suppress and silence dissidents critical of the Iranian regime.

The alleged plots are believed to have been conceived as acts of revenge for the January 2020 death of then-Islamic Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

At the center of these conspiracies is Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Iranian man accused of creating a criminal network of accomplices he met during his time in a United States prison to supply the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with agents capable of carrying out assassinations. set goals.

The Justice Department said targets assigned to Shakeri included President-elect Donald Trump, two Jewish American citizens living in New York and Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.

However, Loadholt is not charged with any of these plots, except the one targeting a US citizen of Iranian origin.

Prosecutors said Loadholt and another associate of Shakeri’s network, Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, were assigned by Shakeri to identify the murder target.

According to the Department of Justice, Shakeri promised the couple $100,000 in exchange for the murder.

During their efforts, Shakeri and two men allegedly exchanged messages and photos regarding the murder-for-hire plot. In or about February 2024, Loadholt and Rivera are accused of traveling to Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the critic was scheduled to appear.

Additionally, on several other occasions in recent months, federal authorities have alleged that they surveilled an area associated with their targets pursuant to instructions from Shakeri, Loadholt, and/or Rivera.

“There are few actors in the world who pose as serious a threat to the national security of the United States as Iran,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department has charged a source in the Iranian regime who was tasked with directing a network of accomplices to advance assassination plans against Iran’s targets, including President-elect Donald Trump. We also charged and arrested two individuals who we alleged were recruited as part of this network to silence and kill an American journalist, a leading critic of the regime, on US soil. “We will not stand by as the Iranian regime attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security.”

Loadholt, Shakeri, and Rivera were charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; conspiracy to commit murder for hire, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; and money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Shakeri is also charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison; The OPA cited sanctions against the Government of Iran for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Loadholt and Rivera made their first appearance in Manhattan federal court on Thursday and were ordered detained pending trial.

This is a developing story and additional information will be posted as it becomes available.