Tech boss, Jamshid Ghomi, charged with sending secret shipments to Iranian military, nuclear programs denied bond
A wealthy California CEO accused of funding his uber-luxury lifestyle by funneling critical hi-tech data and hardware to Iran’s nuclear program will remain locked up.Jamshid Ghomi, 63, who allegedly referred to Iran as the “motherland” in emails with co-conspirators, was ordered held without release Thursday by U.S.Magistrate Judge Douglas McCormick in federal court.Escorted by U.S.
Marshals, the dual Iranian-American citizen shuffled into a Santa Ana federal courtroom in shackles, unshaven and dressed in beige-and-orange jail attire.Two relatives believed to be Ghomi’s wife and one of his two adult sons watched from the gallery.Ghomi remained stoic and silent throughout the hearing.He was arrested during a dramatic pre-dawn raid at his $35 million gated Newport Coast mansion Wednesday, witnessed by The California Post.Federal prosecutor David Lachman argued Ghomi poses both a serious flight risk and a threat to national security, telling the court the government has amassed roughly 100,000 documents of evidence against him.Prosecutors said Ghomi communicated with co-conspirators in Iran as recently as last month and had lived there from late 2023 until returning to the United States on May 5.The court also heard that Ghomi’s wife is a dual Iranian-American citizen.Insisting that the defendant should remain in custody, prosecutor Lachman explained that the suspect’s “family and fortune is in Iran” and he has an “untold amount of money in Iran at his disposal.” He argued that if given home detention, Ghomi could cut off an ankle monitor and “flee to Mexico.
He has every reason to run.His closest ties are in Tehran, not Newport Coast.” Ghomi’s legal team argued he should be released on bond into home custody.
His lawyer, Greg Bernstein, said his client would not be “relocating back to a war zone, his family lives in Newport Beach and they’re not going anywhere.”Ghomi is “an elderly man with a bad heart issue,” and has a pa...