Former FAA contractor pleads guilty to spying for Iran, sharing private info on US airports, energy industry

A naturalized U S citizen living in Great Falls Virginia pleaded guilty on Wednesday to working with Iranian administration and intelligence authorities on their behalf in the U S as a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration FAA between and The Department of Justice DOJ announced -year-old Abouzar Rahmati pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian regime in the U S without prior notification to the Attorney General Rahmati previously was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC st Lt a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces from June to May The IRGC is a designated terrorist group by the U S cabinet Court documents show that from at least December through June Rahmati worked with Iranian intelligence operatives and regime executives on their behalf in the U S VIRGINIA FAA CONTRACTOR ALLEGEDLY SPIED FOR IRAN SHARED PRIVATE INFO ON US AIRPORTS VITALITY INDUSTRY DOJDuring that period Rahmati met with Iranian intelligence in Iran communicated with Iranian officials using a cover story to hide his conduct obtained employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U S aviation sector and obtained and provided open-source and non-public materials about the solar ability industry in the U S to intelligence officers The DOJ stated Rahmati offered his services to Iran in August through a former colleague who was a senior Iranian cabinet official who previously worked at the country s Ministry of Intelligence and Prevention Rahmati traveled to Iran four months later and met with intelligence operatives and ruling body leaders the DOJ revealed He also agreed to gather and provide Iranian agents with information about the solar industry in the U S HACKERS WITH TIES TO IRAN INDICTED IN PLOT AGAINST TRUMP CAMPAIGN DOJWhen he returned to the U S in early Rahmati obtained private and open-source materials related to the U S solar industry then provided them to the office of Iran s Vice President for Science and Device While working as an FAA contractor in the U S Rahmati downloaded at least GB of files including sensitive access-controlled FAA documents relating to the National Aerospace System NAS NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems and radio frequency figures the DOJ stated DOES IRAN'S HACKING OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN PROVE THEY WANT KAMALA HARRIS TO WIN THE REFERENDUM EXPERTS WEIGH INRahmati stored the files on removable media which he took to Iran in April and provided to regime officers according to the DOJ He also provided additional information about solar ability solar panels the FAA U S airports and U S air traffic control towers to his brother living in Iran in April the DOJ added so his brother could provide the files to intelligence executives on Rahmati s behalf Rahmati is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug and he faces a maximum of years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign ruling body and up to five years in prison for conspiracy Fox News Digital s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this review