Former FAA Contractor Sentenced for Illegally Acting as an Agent of the Iranian Government

            WASHINGTON – Abouzar Rahmati, 43, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 12 months in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of the Iranian government in the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

            Rahmati, a former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor, pleaded guilty on April 16, 2025, to acting as an agent of the Iranian government without prior notification to the Attorney General and to conspiracy to do so, before U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan. In addition to the 12-month prison term, Judge AliKhan ordered Rahmati to serve three years of supervised release.

            Joining in the announcement were Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel Wierzbicki of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.

            According to court documents, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, and obtaining open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry and providing it to Iranian intelligence officers.

            “By secretly doing the bidding of the Iranian government, Mr. Rahmati violated the trust placed in him as a U.S. citizen and as a federal contractor with access to sensitive information,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Ensuring that sensitive U.S. information does not fall into the hands of hostile foreign intelligence services remains one of our highest priorities.”

            “Rahmati exploited his trusted position to obtain sensitive information about the U.S. aviation sector and share it with the Iranian government, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Wierzbicki. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to disrupt threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, especially those emanating from the nefarious activities of Iranian intelligence officers who seek to harm our nation.”

            In August 2017, Rahmati offered his services to the Iranian government through a senior Iranian government official who previously worked in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and with whom Rahmati had previously attended university.

            Four months later, in December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence operatives and government officials and agreed to obtain information about the U.S. solar energy industry, to provide that information to Iranian officials, and to conduct future communications under a cover story based on purported discussions about research with fellow academics.

            Upon returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati obtained various private and open-source materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry and provided them to an official from the office of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology in response to tasking from Iranian government officials.

            In response to tasking from Iranian officials, and in furtherance of his role as an agent of the Government of Iran, Rahmati exploited his employment as an FAA contractor by downloading at least 172 GB of the company’s files. Rahmati stored those files on removable media, which he took to Iran, where he provided sensitive documents to the Government of Iran in April 2022.

            At the April 2022 meeting in Iran, Iranian intelligence officers told Rahmati and his brother that they were seeking information, including new ideas and technology not available in Iran. They further explained that if Rahmati brought such information to Iran, the Government of Iran could provide Rahmati with financial incentives, including free or low-interest loans and grants.

            Later in April 2022, also in response to tasking from Iranian government officials, Rahmati sent additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence.

            The FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the case, with significant assistance from the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations.

            Prosecuting the case were Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tortorice and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia provided significant assistance.

24cr0438