Former FAA Contractor Pleads Guilty to Spying for Iranian Government

Naturalized U.S. citizen admits to stealing sensitive documents and delivering them to Iran for at least seven years.

Caleb Revill

Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 10:01 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

Former FAA contractor Abouzar Rahmati of Great Falls, Virginia, has pleaded guilty to working with Iranian government officials and intelligence officers from December 2017 through June 2024. [Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

A former FAA contractor and naturalized U.S. citizen, Abouzar Rahmati, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act and acting as an unregistered agent of the Iranian government.
From December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati provided sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, including restricted FAA documents, to Iranian intelligence officers.
He also supplied both open-source and private materials concerning the U.S. solar energy industry to Iranian officials, having offered his services to the Iranian government in 2017.
Rahmati faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for acting as a foreign agent and up to five years for conspiracy, with sentencing scheduled for August 26.

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A former FAA contractor and naturalized U.S. citizen had pleaded guilty to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government.

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday, 42-year-old Abouzar Rahmati of Great Falls, Virginia, had worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence officers from at least December 2017 through June 2024.