Justice Department Announces FARA Charges for Political Scientist Author
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Jan. 19, the Department of Justice unsealed a criminal complaint against Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi. The Justice Department has charged Afrasiabi with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Iran government, in violation of 18 USC § 371, along with 22 USC §§ 612 and 618(a)(1) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The charges against Afrasiabi stem from his alleged failure to register as an agent of Iran. Assistant Attorney General John Demers alleged in a press conference that, "For over a decade, Kaveh Afrasiabi pitched himself to Congress, journalists, and the American public as a neutral and objective expert on Iran...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." The press release is available here and the criminal complaint is below.
