A Natick electrical engineer facing charges related to a January drone attack on a US military base in Jordan that killed three service members and wounded more than 40 others is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Friday in the high-profile case that signals a crackdown on the sale of sensitive US technology to foreign adversaries.
Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, 42, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Iran, will be arraigned on a 10-count indictment charging him with conspiracy and violating export laws by orchestrating the sale of sensitive technology from the Massachusetts company where he worked to an Iranian company that manufactured components for the Iranian military that were found in the drone used in the deadly attack. He has been held since his arrest by the FBI on Dec. 16.
A second man charged in the indictment, Mohammed Abedininajafabadi, also known as Mohammad Abedini, 32, of Iran, is accused of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death and conspiracy, as well as violations of US export laws and regulations. He was arrested on Dec. 16 in Italy at the request of the US government, which is seeking his extradition to Boston to face charges.
“Holding culpable people accountable for the death and maiming of US service men and women bravely serving our nation abroad is about as important a prosecution as there is,” Massachusetts US Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement following the arrests. “These allegations make clear the grievous harm that can result when highly sophisticated American technologies subject to export controls end up in the hands of our adversaries.”
Two federal defenders who represent Sadeghi did not respond to requests for comment.
The drone attacked housing units at Tower 22, a small US outpost in Jordan near the border with Syria, during the early-morning hours of Jan. 28, according to the US Central Command.
Three Army Reserve soldiers killed in the attack were later identified as Staff Sergeant William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Sergeant Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Sergeant Breonna Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga. They were among some 350 troops stationed at the base to support a coalition mission aimed at defeating ISIS.
FBI agents from the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center recovered the drone used in the attack and traced the navigational system to a Tehran company run by Abedini, who allegedly “has deep connections to the Iranian government, Iranian military, and to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” according to Levy. The IRGC has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The investigation then led to Sadeghi, officials said.
Levy said Sadeghi’s employer was cooperating with authorities.
Federal authorities didn’t name the Massachusetts semiconductor manufacturing company where Sadeghi worked, but a spokesperson for Analog Devices Inc. confirmed that Sadeghi was an employee, and he was fired following his arrest.
In a statement after the arrest, she said: “ADI takes its compliance obligations and role in national security very seriously. We have cooperated fully with federal law enforcement and will continue to do so throughout the proceedings. ADI is committed to preventing unauthorized access to and misuse of our products and technology.”
Court filings allege an elaborate scheme by Sadeghi and Abedini to dodge US sanctions and export restrictions aimed at keeping sensitive technology developed in the United States from being funneled to Iran.
The indictment alleges that Abedini’s company in Iran, San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co., or SDRA, has been selling navigation systems to the IRGC Aerospace Force since at least 2014 for payments totaling more than $6.8 million.
In 2019, Abedini created a front company in Switzerland called Illumove, S.A. to evade US sanctions and export restrictions, the indictment alleges. That same year, Sadeghi began working for ADI and introduced the company to Abedini and Illumove, which later signed a contract with the Massachusetts company to develop an evaluation board to test inertial sensors similar to those used in SDRA’s navigation systems, according to the indictment. Sadeghi was a backup support engineer on the project.
As part of the collaboration, according to the indictment, the Massachusetts company [ADI] exported goods and technology to Switzerland, “including tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of electronic components — including MEMS [Microelectromechanical Systems] — certain of which had applications in the navigation drones,” according to the indictment. Abedini then allegedly transported the US goods and technology to Iran.
Abedini and Sadeghi also caused the Massachusetts company to transfer its “datasheets” to Abedini, who transferred them to his employees in Iran, the indictment says. The datasheets had not been made public and discussed technical performance and characteristics of the company’s electronic components used in navigation applications.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph.