Two individuals from New York City, Carlisle “Pop” Rivera, 49, from Brooklyn, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, from Staten Island, have been implicated in a purported assassination scheme with Iranian links, say federal prosecutors. The scheme was aimed at former President Donald Trump and an Iranian dissident journalist, revealing a convoluted operation that spanned from Brooklyn to Tehran, Iran.
The pair appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Friday, November 8, 2024. They are facing charges related to murder-for-hire and conspiracy to launder money.
The central figure in the investigation is Farhad Shakeri, who, according to prosecutors, is an operative for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Shakeri is believed to be in Tehran and is alleged to have enlisted Rivera and Loadholt in surveillance activities and planned assassinations.
Court records reveal that Rivera, a welder and father of two, was drawn into the plot due to his connection with Shakeri. The two met while incarcerated at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York. Rivera had previously served jail time for a 1994 second-degree murder conviction.
Investigators discovered that Rivera was initially tasked with targeting Masih Alinejad, a Brooklyn-based journalist known for her critical stance against the Iranian regime. Prosecutors allege that Rivera and Loadholt conducted extensive surveillance of Alinejad, including a trip to Fairfield University in Connecticut where she was due to give a speech.
Messages obtained by FBI investigators between the defendants revealed details of their surveillance efforts. In one voice note, Rivera allegedly said, “You just gotta have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it. Don’t think about going in. In is a suicide move.” The defendants were reportedly promised $100,000 for Alinejad’s murder.
In another voice memo, Rivera stated, “This b***h is hard to catch, bro. And because she hard to catch, there ain’t gonna be no simple pull up, unless there’s the luck of the draw.”
By the end of September, Shakeri’s Iranian contacts reportedly directed him to shift his focus to Trump. The IRGC allegedly instructed Shakeri to create a seven-day plan to surveil and assassinate the former president, according to the Department of Justice.
Attorney General Merrick Garland highlighted the seriousness of the situation, stating: “There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the US as does Iran.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray added: “The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been conspiring with criminals and hitmen to target and gun down Americans on US soil, and that simply won’t be tolerated.”
The criminal complaint from the Justice Department discloses that in addition to Trump and Alinejad, the alleged conspiracy had also targeted two Jewish American businesspeople in New York City who had shown support for Israel on social media. Furthermore, Shakeri reportedly discussed plans to strike Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.
Rivera and Loadholt are currently in custody awaiting trial. If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to launder money charges, along with additional penalties for the murder-for-hire charges.
