Brooklyn, NY — Ahmad Sheikhzadeh, a 60-year-old New York City resident, stood before a federal judge today and admitted to filing false income tax returns and conspiring to break U.S. sanctions by shuttling unreported cash from Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations to his own pocket and beyond. The guilty plea, entered in U.S. District Court before Judge Pamela K. Chen, caps a years-long scheme to hide his true earnings and illegally move money to a sanctioned state.
From January 2008 through 2012, Sheikhzadeh worked as a consultant for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations (IMUN), receiving monthly cash payments delivered via an IMUN official acting as intermediary. Despite earning substantial income, he failed to report the full amount on his federal tax returns—understating his earnings and dodging tax obligations. He was not officially declared as an IMUN representative, operating instead in the shadows of diplomatic employment.
But the deception didn’t stop at tax fraud. Sheikhzadeh also admitted to running an underground financial pipeline, providing unlicensed hawala money remitting services that funneled funds to Iran for co-conspirators in the U.S. These transactions—tied to investments and disbursements from Iranian bank accounts—were conducted without the required license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York, led by U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers, say Sheikhzadeh’s actions undermined national security and financial oversight. The case was jointly pursued by the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the Justice Department’s National Security Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tali Farhadian, Peter Baldwin, and Brian Morris are handling the prosecution, with support from Trial Attorney David Recker of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
Now facing up to 23 years behind bars, Sheikhzadeh has agreed to pay $147,000 in restitution and forfeiture. Sentencing is pending, but the plea deal strips him of any claim to leniency. His cooperation, if any, has not been disclosed, and court records indicate no reduction in charge severity.
The case, docketed as E.D.N.Y. No. 15-182 (PKC), shines a light on the vulnerabilities exploited by foreign agents and their enablers on U.S. soil. For years, Sheikhzadeh operated under the radar—paid in cash, unlisted, unaccountable. Now, he answers to a system that’s catching up—one tax return, one illicit transfer, at a time.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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