Iranians sanctioned and charged for alleged cyber-based bids to influence 2020 US elections

Published:Dec 7, 202310:17
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The Treasury Department introduced sanctions in opposition to six Iranian people and one entity "for attempting to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election."At the identical time, the Justice Department unveiled prison expenses in opposition to two of the Iranians. The indictment alleges that defendants Seyyed Mohammad Hosein Musa Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian "participated in a coordinated and multi-faceted, cyber-enabled campaign to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord, in connection with the 2020 U.S. Presidential election."Facebook messages and emails, prosecutors allege, have been despatched to the presidential marketing campaign of President Donald Trump, White House advisers and members of the media. The messages included a video, in accordance to prosecutors, that carried the Proud Boys brand, and the messages claimed that the Democratic Party was working to exploit "serious security vulnerabilities" in state voter registration web sites.The indictment additionally describes false election messages the defendants have been allegedly sending to voters utilizing data obtained from a unnamed state's voter web site.
"The emails were also purportedly from the Proud Boys, targeted registered Democrats, and threatened the recipients with physical injury if they did not change their party affiliation and vote for President Trump," the indictment mentioned, alleging that the emails "included the name and street address of the recipient." The case was introduced within the Southern District of New York. The defendants face expenses of conspiracy, voter intimidation and transmission of interstate threats. Kazemi is moreover dealing with laptop fraud expenses.

Sanctions from the Treasury Department

The Treasury Department, in announing the sanctions, mentioned that the "United States identified attempted cyber-enabled intrusions by state-sponsored actors, including Iranian actors who sought to sow discord and undermine voters' faith in the U.S. electoral process.""These Iranian actors obtained or attempted to obtain U.S. voter information from U.S. state election websites, sent threatening emails to intimidate voters, and crafted and disseminated disinformation pertaining to the election and election security," the Department mentioned in a press launch.The Treasury Department mentioned that "the actors' ability to leverage this unauthorized access was ultimately thwarted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
Iranian cyber firm Emennet Pasargad led the trouble, the Treasury Department mentioned. That firm was sanctioned, together with six people related to it.The firm was beforehand sanctioned underneath one other identify for offering assist to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It additionally sanctioned the corporate's supervisor, Mohammad Bagher Shirinkar, and 5 others related to Emennet's community, together with Kazemi and Kashian, the 2 people who have been indicted.

As a results of the sanctions, "all property and interests in property of the designated targets that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them," and "financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entity and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action."The US State Department can also be providing a reward of up to $10 million "for information on or about the activities of" Kazemi and Kashian.This story has been up to date with further particulars.

Sean Lyngaas contributed to this report.

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