Affiliation: IRGC
Mehdi Farhadi is wanted for his alleged involvement in malicious cyber activity affecting networks and individuals in the United States and other countries, to include defacing of websites, exfiltration of sensitive data, and unauthorized access to computer networks. Farhadi has also allegedly stolen credit card information and identities of United States persons to fund these illicit activities. Farhadi has allegedly targeted a variety of victims, to include individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, universities, and government agencies both in the United States and overseas. On September 15, 2020, a federal grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, indicted Mehdi Farhadi on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and related activity in connection with computers, computer fraud - unauthorized access to protected computers, computer fraud – unauthorized damage to protected computers, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The District of New Jersey also issued a federal arrest warrant for both Mehdi Farhadi and his co-conspirator Hooman Heidarian.