A Staten Island resident from New York City received a decade-long federal prison sentence on Wednesday for his involvement in a murder-for-hire scheme orchestrated by the Iranian government.
Jonathan Loadholt admitted guilt to charges of conspiracy to commit stalking and conspiracy to launder money, linked to a plot targeting journalist and human rights advocate Masih Alinejad for assassination.
Alinejad, originally from Iran, sought refuge in 2009 and became a U.S. citizen a decade later. She found herself in the crosshairs of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after openly encouraging Iranian women to resist the mandatory headscarf laws imposed by the regime.
“Jonathan Loadholt was recruited as a mercenary to track, monitor, and ultimately execute Masih Alinejad—a U.S. citizen—on behalf of the IRGC,” remarked James Barnacle Jr., FBI Assistant Director in Charge. “Thanks to the swift action of the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, his plan was foiled before it could be carried out.”
“The FBI remains committed to thwarting any efforts aimed at silencing critics of authoritarian regimes on American soil,” he added.
At 37 years old, Loadholt is the second individual to face sentencing in what the Justice Department has labeled a “stalk and murder” conspiracy against Alinejad.
Carlisle Rivera was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
The would-be hitmen were offered $100,000 by Farhad Shakeri, who reported directly to IRGC leaders, to purchase weapons, conduct surveillance on a Brooklyn home they believed to be Alinejad’s, follow her to a February 2024 speaking event at Fairfield University in Connecticut and ultimately kill her, which they failed at doing.
At one point during their nine-month long surveillance efforts, Rivera allegedly complained to Shakeri: “This b—h is hard to catch, bro.”
“The Government of Iran has repeatedly attempted to locate and murder Masih Alinejad, right here in New York City,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a statement. “The Government of Iran tried to silence Ms. Alinejad because of her efforts to stand up to the Iranian regime and expose its discriminatory treatment of women, corruption, and human rights abuses.”
“While this plot was directed from Iran, the would-be assassins were American citizens who agreed to kill Ms. Alinejad for money — out of greed,” Clayton added. “Today’s sentence should be a serious warning to anyone who tries to profit by carrying out the wishes of a hostile foreign regime on United States soil.”
Shakeri, who remains at large, is also accused of being directed by the IRGC to orchestrate a plot to assassinate President Trump.
US officials say Iran has been pursuing assassination plots against Trump as vengeance for the death of Qasem Soleimani, head of the Iranian regime’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a drone strike ordered by the president in 2020.
Trump told NewsNation in January that he had left instructions that if any Iranian plot to kill him was successful, “the whole country is going to get blown up.”
