Prosecutors: 2 Iranians spread lies on U.S. vote

WASHINGTON — Two suspected Iranian computer hackers have been charged in a broad campaign of election interference aimed at intimidating American voters during last year’s presidential race and undermining confidence that the results of the contest could be trusted.

The activities, prosecutors say, exploited not only computer vulnerabilities but also existing social divisions to sow discord and confusion among voters. Court documents allege vast efforts to spread disinformation about the presidential contest and to intimidate and pressure voters. Some of the activities persisted even after the election.

The Iranian cyber campaign included bogus emails that targeted Democratic and Republican voters with different messages, the distribution of a fabricated video that purported to show acts of election fraud and an unsuccessful effort the day after the election to gain access to an American media company’s network.

The overall effort attracted publicity in the run-up to the November 2020 election, when law enforcement and intelligence officials held an unusual news conference to accuse Iran of orchestrating an email campaign aimed at intimidating Democratic voters in battleground states so they would vote for Trump.

The indictment makes clear that even as much of the public concern about foreign interference in last year’s election centered on Russian efforts to disparage Trump’s challenger, Joe Biden, Iranian hackers were engaged in a wide-ranging influence campaign of their own.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan and unsealed Thursday, accuses Iranian nationals Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian of helping carry out the scheme. The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against the men, some of their colleagues and the company they worked for.

The defendants, described in the indictment as experienced hackers who worked as contractors for a cybersecurity firm, are not in custody and are believed to be in Iran.