Two Iranian nationals who allegedly posed as Proud Boys and sent threatening messages to American voters in an attempt to influence the 2020 presidential election were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department Thursday.
Prosecutors assert that Seyyed Kazemi, 24, and Sajjad Kashian, 27, claimed to be members of the far-right extremist group and sent tens of thousands of emails promising violence if the recipients didn’t vote for Donald Trump.
“You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” said one widely distributed email, according to prosecutors.
The Wall Street Journal adds:
The pair also allegedly disseminated a video rife with disinformation about nonexistent election infrastructure vulnerabilities to create a false appearance of vote manipulation, breached a U.S. media company’s computer network and attempted to compromise election-related websites in several states. Prosecutors said the conspiracy to interfere started around August 2020 and lasted until November 2020.
“The two men are accused of obtaining confidential voter information from at least one state’s election website, getting data on more than 100,000 voters,” reports CNBC.
According to the indictment, Kazemi and Kashian also “sent Facebook messages and emails to Republican Senators, Republican members of Congress, individuals associated with the Presidential campaign of Donald J . Trump , White House advisors, and members of the media , falsely claiming that the Democratic Party was planning to exploit “serious security vulnerabilities ‘in state voter registration websites to “edit mail- in ballots or even register non-existent voters'”
“This indictment details how two Iran-based actors waged a targeted, coordinated campaign to erode confidence in the integrity of the U.S. electoral system and to sow discord among Americans,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The allegations illustrate how foreign disinformation campaigns operate and seek to influence the American public. The department is committed to exposing and disrupting malign foreign influence efforts using all available tools, including criminal charges.”
The Washington Post reports:
Officials said the two men worked for an Iran-based company formerly known as Eeleyanet Gostar, which is now called Emennet Pasargad. U.S. officials said the company is known to have provided services to the Iranian government.
Officials believe both Kazemi and Kashian live in Iran. Sanctions were imposed on the alleged cyber criminals in an attempt to limit their travel. Six Iranian officials connected to Emennet Pasargad were also sanctioned, according to Reuters.
