Hells Angels members and Iranian national charged in ‘murder-for-hire’ assassination plot
US and UK sanctions targeting Iranian network say drug traffickers led by Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti recruited Hells Angels member to assassinate individuals in the US who fled Iran.
By ALEX SHIPMAN The Express.com January 29, 2024
https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/126024/Iran-Hells-Angels-murder-for-hire-assassination
Three men, including one Iranian and two members of the Hells Angels from Canada, have been charged with plotting a $350,0000 murder-for-hire scheme to assassinate individuals in the US.
It comes as tensions mount between the US and Iran following the death of three US soldiers at the weekend.
Court documents today allege that between December 2020 and March 2021, Iranian Naji Sharifi Zindashti, 49, Damion Patrick John Ryan, 43, and Adam Richard Pearson, 29, conspired to kill two Maryland residents.
The trio are accused of using an encrypted messaging service called “SkyECC” to plan the murders and negotiate payment.
The intended victims had previously fled to the US after one defected from Iran, according to inve Alongside the indictment, the Treasury Department has taken action against network allegedly run by Zindashti’s which targets Iranian dissidents for kidnapping and assassination.
Zindashti and alleged associates are now also banned from any transactions involving a US person or transactions which occurring in the United States.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, warned: “To those in Iran who plot murders on US soil and the criminal actors who work with them, let today’s charges send a clear message: the Department of Justice will pursue you as long as it takes and wherever you are and deliver justice.”
US Attorney Andrew Luger for the District of Minnesota said: “As alleged, Mr. Zindashti and his team of gunmen, including a Minnesota resident, used an encrypted messaging service to orchestrate an assassination plot against two individuals.
“Thanks to the skilled work of federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents, this murder-for-hire conspiracy was disrupted and the defendants will face justice.”
The indictment alleges that between December 2020 and January 2021, Zindashti and Ryan discussed “jobs,” “equipment,” “tools” and plans to “make some money.”
It alleges that, in January 2021, they talked about a job in the United States, with Ryan noting that doing a job stateside was challenging, but that he “might have someone to do it.”
That same day he is accused of messaging Pearson about a “job” in Maryland. The indictment alleges Pearson said in response that “shooting is probably easiest thing for them,” and that he was “on it.” Ryan allegedly suggested “two guys go with proper equipment,” while Pearson is accused of telling the recruits for the job to “shoot [the victim] in the head a lot [to] make example” and saying “we gotta erase his head from his torso.”
hey allegedly agreed on a $350,000 payment for the “job,” plus $20,000 for costs and had a “four-man team ready.”
The three accused face charges of plotting to use interstate commerce facilities for murder-for-hire. Pearson also faces charges for having a gun while on the run and being an illegal alien with a gun in the US.
Zindashti lives in Iran now. Ryan and Pearson are locked up in Canada for other crimes.
The FBI, with help from Canadian intelligence and police, is looking into this case.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew R. Winter for the District of Minnesota, Trial Attorney Menno Goedman of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Trial Attorney Joshua Champagne of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
The DOJ noted an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Iran allegedly hired Canadians to conduct assassinations on U.S. soil, according to indictment
Alleged plot involved $350,000 payment to shoot Maryland-based targets repeatedly in the head
Alexander Panetta · CBC News · Posted: Jan 29, 2024
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iran-hire-canadians-killing-
1.7097945#:~:text=The%20indictment%20identifies%20one%20Canadian,in%20Minnesota%20at%20the%20time.
Two Canadians planned to conduct assassinations in the U.S. on behalf of Iran’s intelligence services, according to allegations in a newly unsealed indictment.
The suspects are accused of plotting to shoot a man and woman living in Maryland, one of them a defector from Iran.
The charges unsealed Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice include details of the alleged plot, including the sum the would-be killers had charged for the job: $350,000 US.
News of the charges emerges at a time of acutely high tension with Iran, as the U.S. threatens retaliation after three U.S. military members were killed in an attack by an Iran-backed militia.
The indictment identifies one Canadian suspect as Damion Patrick John Ryan, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels criminal gang who allegedly assembled a team of gunmen in late 2020 and early 2021. He was allegedly working with another Canadian, Adam Richard Pearson, who was living illegally in Minnesota at the time.
They were hired by an accused Iranian drug-dealer who operates on the instructions of a certain officer with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to the U.S.ours ago
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Three soldiers were killed in an overnight drone strike targeting U.S. troops near the Syrian border. President Joe Biden has vowed to retaliate, adding to fears of an escalated conflict in the Middle East.
According to the indictment, Pearson promised that he would recruit people and promised to tell them to shoot the victims repeatedly in the head in order to make an example of them.
He also allegedly texted Ryan to say, of one intended victim: “We gotta erase his head from his torso.”
U.S. announces sanctions against network
In a separate action Monday, the United States government announced financial sanctions against the network run by the alleged drug-dealer, Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti.
American authorities say Zindashti is based in Iran and his criminal operation is given free rein by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
In exchange for state protection, they say, the criminal group carries out assassinations and kidnappings, on multiple continents, of dissidents and opponents of the Iranian regime; according to the U.S. Treasury Department, these operations were overseen by MOIS officer Reza Hamidiravari.
“The Iranian regime’s continued efforts to target dissidents and activists demonstrate the regime’s deep insecurity and attempt to expand Iran’s domestic repression internationally,” said U.S. Treasury official Brian Nelson.
The charges do not identify the intended targets in Maryland.
As for the suspects, both are already in prison. Ryan is currently jailed in Canada on firearms charges and Pearson was arrested by the FBI in 2021 and extradited to Canada over a murder in Alberta four years ago.
They are now charged in the U.S. with one count of conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire plot, as is Zindashti.
Pearson also faces separate firearms charges.
The new allegations have not been proven in court.
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