BEHZAD MESRI

Physical Description

Caution

Behzad Mesri is wanted for his alleged involvement in criminal activities to include computer intrusion and aggravated identity theft.  Mesri was the CEO of an Iranian entity that allegedly worked at the behest of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was allegedly used in furtherance of a malicious cyber campaign targeting current and former members of the United States Intelligence Community.  On February 8, 2019, a grand jury in the United States District Court, District of Columbia, indicted Mesri, and others, and a federal arrest warrant was issued for him after he was charged with conspiracy, attempted computer intrusions, and aggravated identity theft.  Mesri was previously charged with unauthorized access to computer systems, stealing proprietary data from those systems, and attempted extortion for approximately $6 million in Bitcoin.  On November 8, 2017, a grand jury in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, indicted Mesri and a federal arrest warrant was issued for him after he was charged with Computer Fraud – Unauthorized Access to a Protected Computer; Wire Fraud; Computer Fraud – Threatening to Impair the Confidentiality of Information; Computer Fraud – Threatening to Damage a Protected Computer/Impair the Confidentiality of Information; Interstate Transmission of an Extortionate Communication; and Aggravated Identity Theft.

Remarks

Mesri is known to speak Farsi and resides in Iran.

Source

Organization: FBI