Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi, a political scientist and author living in the U.S., has been arrested and charged by the Justice Department with acting as an unregistered agent for Iran.
Afrasiabi was arrested at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Monday. The criminal complaint against him was unsealed on Tuesday.
“For over a decade, Kaveh Afrasiabi pitched himself to Congress, journalists, and the American public as a neutral and objective expert on Iran,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. "However, all the while, Afrasiabi was actually a secret employee of the Government of Iran and the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations (IMUN) who was being paid to spread their propaganda."
And Seth DuCharme, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said: “Afrasiabi allegedly sought to influence the American public and American policymakers for the benefit of his employer, the Iranian government, by disguising propaganda as objective policy analysis and expertise.”
According to the complaint, Afrasiabi is a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.
The Daily Caller noted that prosecutors claim Afrasiabi received $265,000 in secret funding from Iran since 2007. He also received health benefits provided to Iranian diplomats sent to the United Nations, prosecutors said.
The Daily Caller said he has been published in various outlets, including The New York Times and HuffPost.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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