Three charged in Iran assassination plot against Bk author, Trump

November 8, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CITYWIDE — Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, were charged with murder-for-hire on Friday in the Southern District of New York court in an alleged plot against Brooklyn Iranian-American author Masih Alinejad, a prominent critic of Iran’s government. Rivera and Loadholt were arrested Thursday; Shakeri is believed to be in Iran. According to the complaint, Iran is targeting Americans and allies to repress dissidents and to avenge the 2020 drone-striking of its Commander Qasem Soleimani.

In recent months, Shakeri, a former immigrant, allegedly used a network of prison associates, including Loadholt and Rivera, to supply Iran with manpower. Allegedly, Loadholt and Rivera were offered $100,000 by Shakeri to kill Alinejad, who has been the target of multiple prior Iranian kidnapping and murder plots, and have spent months surveilling her. Shakeri allegedly sent voice notes, saying, “You gotta wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it.” The New York Post reports that one of the pair complained, “This b—h is hard to catch, bro,” according to the indictment.

According to Shakeri, Iran also tasked him with other assassinations, including of President-elect Trump and of two Jewish New Yorkers. In a phone interview with the FBI, Shakeri said he was ordered to kill Trump within seven days of Oct. 7 of this year, or otherwise to wait until after the election, which Iran believed Trump would lose, on the grounds that the assassination would then be easier. Shakeri also faces additional terror-related charges.

“Whatever I do, hurts them so bad they want to kill me. That makes me more determined to give voice to Iranian women, Iranian men, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder to bring the dictatorship down,” Alinejad said on X, in response to the news.

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