Two men from New York have been indicted by federal prosecutors over an alleged assassination plot, believed to be backed by Iran, aimed at former President Donald Trump and an Iranian dissident journalist. The elaborate scheme reportedly spanned from Brooklyn, New York, to Tehran, Iran.

Carlisle “Pop” Rivera, a 49-year-old Brooklyn resident, and Jonathon Loadholt, a 36-year-old Staten Island resident, appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Friday, November 8, 2024. They faced charges linked to murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy.

The investigation focuses on an alleged conspiracy led by Farhad Shakeri, identified by prosecutors as an agent for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Shakeri is believed to be currently in Tehran and is accused of recruiting Rivera and Loadholt for surveillance and planned assassinations.

Court documents reveal that Rivera, a welder and a father of two, got involved in the plot through Shakeri, whom he met while they were both imprisoned at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York. Rivera had a previous conviction for second-degree murder in 1994.

The case unveiled that Rivera was first enlisted to target Masih Alinejad, a Brooklyn-based journalist who is a critic of the Iranian regime. Prosecutors claim Rivera and Loadholt conducted detailed surveillance of Alinejad, including a visit to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she was set to speak.

FBI agents acquired messages between the defendants outlining their surveillance plans. In a voice note, Rivera is reported as saying, “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.” Allegedly, the defendants were offered $100,000 for Alinejad’s murder.

Rivera, in another voice memo, said, “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.”

The plot’s scope widened in late September when Shakeri’s Iranian superiors purportedly instructed him to shift his attention to Trump. As per the Department of Justice, the IRGC asked Shakeri to devise a seven-day plan to surveil and assassinate the former president.

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 reveals that besides Trump and Alinejad, the alleged conspiracy also targeted two Jewish American businesspeople in New York City who had shown support for Israel on social media. Moreover, Shakeri is alleged to have discussed plans to attack Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka.

Rivera and Loadholt are being held in custody awaiting trial. If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in prison for the money laundering conspiracy charges, along with additional penalties for the murder-for-hire charges.