Man who befriended Secret Service as fake federal agent gets prison time

Arian Taherzadeh, 41, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to a federal conspiracy charge as well as to voyeurism and unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device in a scheme that unfolded over more than three years from late 2018 to April 2022. The voyeurism charge arose from the use of apartment security cameras to covertly record video of women engaging in sexual activity that he showed to others.

Taherzadeh faced 41 to 51 months in prison under federal advisory sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors asked for leniency — 30 to 37 months — because of his cooperation in helping secure the conviction of his co-conspirator, Haider Ali, 38, who was sentenced to five years in prison earlier this year.

“For years, [Taherzadeh] pretended to be a law enforcement officer, and then used this fake identification to commit fraud,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Aloi and Joshua S. Rothstein argued in sentencing papers. “Since admitting his role in this fraud and impersonation scheme, however, [he] has provided substantial assistance to the United States.”

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in sentencing Taherzadeh on Friday that she had a hard time finding comparable cases to devise her own sentence, saying that his impersonation of a federal officer was “really very unique to this case.” She also noted the seriousness of Taherzadeh’s actions, in which he grew so close to some Secret Service members that he provided free use of a vehicle to the wife of an agent in first lady Jill Biden’s detail, and gave an iPhone to another member, which he used to locate the member near the White House.

Taherzadeh’s defense asked for a sentence no greater than 18 months, citing his multi-hour confession upon arrest and several debriefings, his handover of multiple weapons and his computer, and his willingness to testify against Ali.

Taherzadeh’s case was distinguishable from his co-conspirators “because of his immediate, substantial and fulsome cooperation,” Chief Assistant Federal Defender Michelle Peterson said in sentencing papers, supporting a significant break from sentencing guidelines.

In his guilty plea hearing, Taherzadeh admitted to a long-running ruse in which he created a private company called the United States Special Police to represent himself as a federal official even though the entity had no government affiliation. He lavished gifts on real members of the U.S. Secret Service — such as rent-free apartments costing more than $40,000 a year to two members — to “deepen [his] relationships with them,” creating what prosecutors said were national security risks, including with officials assigned to protect the White House and the first lady.

To keep the scam going over time, Taherzadeh and co-conspirators impersonated various officers or employees of the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, the Office of Personnel Management, and other agencies. It all publicly unraveled with their arrest in April 2022 and the search by heavily armed federal agents of the Crossing, a luxury apartment building in the Navy Yard area.

Subsequent investigation and a trail of lawsuits spanning multiple apartment buildings showed that Taherzadeh would pretend to be a federal law enforcement officer by obtaining equipment like police badges and tactical gear and, in one case, an unlicensed gun with 61 rounds of ammunition, he admitted.

Making up covert task forces, Taherzadeh and Ali would recruit others and con apartment owners and managers of complexes into providing him with apartment units and parking spaces for his fake law enforcement operations.

The Sonnet, Carver and Crossing apartment complexes together reported about $700,000 of losses in unpaid rent, parking spaces and other fees, the government said.

Taherzadeh declined to speak at his sentencing Friday. But he said in a letter to the judge that he never intended to cause harm with “an embarrassing set of misrepresentations that got out of control,” his defense said. He expressed extreme remorse, saying he had no intention of compromising or influencing any federal agent, saying he acted out of a desire for friendship and deeply regretted the harm he caused to officers’ reputations, clearances and careers.

It was “categorically” wrong of him to take advantage of officers’ friendships “based on deceit,” Taherzadeh said. “My actions, misrepresentations and lies eroded the public trust in our law enforcement communities, embarrassed our most elite federal agencies — all at a time where trust and transparency is most crucial.”

Taherzadeh apologized for defrauding his victims and for violating “the safety and sanctity” of their homes, their privacy and their trust, saying he was ashamed of his actions. He said he would spend his remaining days paying restitution but acknowledged that would “never make up” for the embarrassment created.

Kollar-Kotelly said she thought Taherzadeh’s letter “made no excuses for his actions. He acknowledged his criminal conduct and apologized to the various victims. I think he was sincere about it, and I think it shows remorse, which is certainly an important factor in whether this behavior is going to be deterred. … I do not see him engaging in this conduct again.”

The judge allowed Taherzadeh to remain free and surrender to prison authorities next month. She ordered him to pay $200 a month toward his restitution of $706,187 once he is released, a monthly amount that could be increased if he is able to pay more.