Two New York City residents, Carlisle “Pop” Rivera, 49, from Brooklyn, and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, from Staten Island, are facing charges tied to an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy, reportedly backed by Iran, aimed at former President Donald Trump and an Iranian dissident journalist. The plot is said to span from Brooklyn to Tehran, according to federal prosecutors.
Rivera and Loadholt were presented in the Manhattan federal court on Friday, November 8, 2024, standing accused of engaging in a conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering. Prosecutors say the scheme was directed by Farhad Shakeri, an agent of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), currently believed to be in Tehran, Iran.
Shakeri allegedly enlisted Rivera, a welder with two children, and Loadholt to execute surveillance and planned assassinations. Court documents reveal that Rivera, a former inmate at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, for a second-degree murder conviction in 1994, first met Shakeri in the prison. Rivera’s involvement in the plot reportedly began through this association.
The primary target of the conspiracy was initially Masih Alinejad, a Brooklyn-based Iranian dissident journalist known for her robust critique of the Iranian regime. Rivera and Loadholt are accused of conducting thorough surveillance on Alinejad, including tracking her to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where she was scheduled to speak.
The FBI obtained messages between the defendants, illuminating their surveillance activities. In one voice note, Rivera was recorded 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.” They were reportedly promised $100,000 to carry out Alinejad’s assassination.
The plot reportedly shifted focus in late September to include former President Trump at the behest of Shakeri’s Iranian superiors. The Department of Justice states that the IRGC instructed Shakeri to devise a seven-day plan to surveil and assassinate Trump.
Attorney General Merrick Garland underscored the severity of the charges, 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 echoed this sentiment, declaring, “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.”
According to the Justice Department’s criminal complaint, the conspiracy also included plans to target two Jewish American businesspeople in New York City who had publicly supported Israel, as well as potential attacks on Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. Shakeri reportedly discussed these plans.
Rivera and Loadholt remain in custody awaiting trial. If found guilty, they could face up to 20 years in prison for the money laundering conspiracy charges, along with further penalties for the murder-for-hire charges.
