Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Afghan national, has been linked to a shocking assassination plot targeting the US president-elect Donald Trump. Shakeri was accused of orchestrating an assassination plot against Trump on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He was deported from the United States in 2008 after serving prison time.

According to one criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, Shakeri was allegedly tasked by the Iranian regime to surveil and ultimately assassinate Trump in September 2024. He was accused of participating in an extensive assassination conspiracy along with two New Yorkers, Jonathan Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, and Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Staten Island. Brooklyn, also known as Pop.

According to the Department of Justice, Rivera and Loadholt have been arrested, while Shakeri is still at large and believed to be living in Iran. Loadholt and Rivera previously made initial appearances in the Southern District of New York and were ordered held pending trial.

Who is Farhad Shakeri?

As a child, Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan citizen, immigrated to the United States. He was involved in criminal activities early in his life.

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Shakeri was convicted of robbery in 1994 and subsequently housed in several state prisons, including Woodbourne Correctional Center. He was transferred to a Beacon facility in 2005, where he reportedly met Carlisle Rivera. Shakeri remained in the US until his deportation in 2008.

According to New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records, his parole supervision ended in 2015. In 2019, he was arrested in Sri Lanka after the seizure of 92 kilograms of heroin, as outlined in the indictment.

In recent times, he used a network of criminal associates he met in prison to supply the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with agents for surveillance and assassination of targets, the statement said.