Seyed Sajjad Shahidian, Conspiring to Violate U.S. Sanctions, Minnesota 2020

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Seyed Sajjad Shahidian, 33, Sentenced for Conspiring to Violate U.S. Sanctions

A former high-profile executive at a financial services firm in Iran has been sentenced to 23 months in prison for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions.

Seyed Sajjad Shahidian, a citizen of Iran, was arrested in London, England on November 11, 2018, and extradited to the United States on May 15, 2020. He pleaded guilty on June 18, 2018.

Shahidian was the founder and CEO of PAYMENT24, an internet-based financial services company with approximately 40 employees and offices in Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan, Iran. The primary business of PAYMENT24 was helping Iranian citizens conduct prohibited financial transactions with businesses based in the United States.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea and documents filed in court, Shahidian lied to U.S. suppliers, illegally transferred funds from Iran, used fraudulent passports and IDs, and established a business whose entire purpose was to circumvent U.S. sanctions.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said, “Today’s sentence should discourage other would-be sanctions violators from following in Mr. Shahidian’s footsteps.”

U.S. Attorney Erica H. MacDonald added, “In Iran, Mr. Shahidian had been a high-profile executive and a millionaire. He is now a convicted felon who has lost everything.”

Shahidian’s crimes included making material misrepresentations and omissions to United States-based businesses regarding the destination of the United States-origin goods. In order to accomplish the transactions, Shahidian obtained payment processing accounts from United States-based companies like PayPal using fraudulent passports and other false residency documents.