Justice Dept. announces alleged murder-for-hire plot
Claims 3 conspirators linked to group targeting Iranian dissidents
An Iranian and two Canadian nationals were indicted over an alleged plot to murder an Iranian defector and another Maryland resident on U.S. soil, the Justice Department announced Monday.
The three alleged conspirators were part of a criminal network targeting Iranian dissidents at Tehran’s direction, according to the department. One defendant, Damion Patrick John Ryan, is a “full-patch member” of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, the department said.
The plot unfolded from about December 2020 to March 2021, according to an indictment filed in Minnesota federal court. Iranian resident Naji Sharifi Zindashti allegedly tasked Ryan with assembling an assassination team to go to Maryland to murder the two victims, who authorities didn’t name.
The targeted victims, a man and woman, fled to the US after one of them defected from Iran, the government said.
The announcement comes about a year after the government charged three members of an Eastern European criminal gang in a murder-for-hire plot targeting New York-based journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. There, too, the government alleged the plot was linked to the Iranian government.
Ryan solicited another Canadian national who was illegally residing in Minnesota, Adam Richard Pearson, and the pair discussed shooting one of the targets in the head enough to “erase his head from his torso” in order to make an example of him, according to the Dec. 3 indictment, which was announced Monday. The government said Ryan and Pearson are both currently incarcerated in Canada for unrelated offenses.
The three conspirators agreed on a $350,000 payment for the murders,
In a statement included in Monday’s announcement, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen warned “those in Iran who plot murders on U.S. soil” that the department “will pursue you as long as it takes – and wherever you are – and deliver justice.”
which they said would be executed by a multiperson team, plus $20,000 more for travel costs, according to the indictment.
In a statement included in Monday’s announcement, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen warned “those in Iran who plot murders on U.S. soil” that the department “will pursue you as long as it takes – and wherever you are – and deliver justice.”
Each defendant was charged with conspiring to use an interstate commerce facility – specifically, an encrypted messaging service – to commit a murder-for-hire. Pearson also faces illegal gun possession charges.
Contact information for the three defendants wasn’t immediately available.