CEO of Iranian Company Pleads Guilty in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The founder and CEO of an Iranian financial services firm has pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran.

The U.S. Attorney for Minnesota issued a statement Tuesday that said 33-year-old Seyed Sajjad Shahidian pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against and to defraud the United States. Shahidian, a citizen of Iran, was arrested in London on Nov. 11, 2018. He was extradited to the U.S. last month.

According to court documents, Shahidian was former CEO of Payment24, an internet-based financial services company. Shahidian admitted to opening hundreds of PayPal accounts on behalf of his Payment24 customers who resided in Iran and to unlawfully bringing millions of U.S. dollars into the economy of Iran.