A federal court in Manhattan has sentenced a former commercial transit driver to a decade behind bars for his role in an international assassination conspiracy masterminded by the Iranian regime, according to an ABC News report.
US District Judge Lewis J. Liman ordered the 10-year prison sentence for 37-year-old Staten Island resident Jonathan Loadholt on Wednesday. The sentencing follows Loadholt’s prior guilty plea to federal charges of conspiracy to commit stalking and conspiracy to commit money laundering stemming from a thwarted 2024 operation aimed at neutralizing dissident writer Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn.
Federal law enforcement revealed that the foreign intelligence operation was actively neutralized before the lethal strike could be executed.
“Loadholt was tasked by the government of Iran to surveil Alinejad and eventually assassinate her, but the FBI arrested him first," explained James Barnacle, the head of New York's FBI field office.
Federal prosecutors emphasized that financial desperation, rather than ideological alignment, motivated the American operative to cooperate with the foreign power. US Attorney Jay Clayton characterized Loadholt as a US citizen driven by greed to kill Alinejad.
The government of Iran “tried to silence Ms. Alinejad because of her efforts to stand up to the Iranian regime and expose its discriminatory treatment of women, corruption, and human rights abuses," Clayton stated.
The defendant expressed remorse regarding his actions in a direct letter submitted to Judge Liman.
The legal resolution of Loadholt’s case follows the conviction of his co-conspirator, Carlisle Rivera. In January, Rivera offered an official courtroom apology before receiving a 15-year federal prison sentence for his primary role in the state-sponsored conspiracy.
Alinejad, who left in Iran in 2009, is one of the most prominent dissident campaigners against Iranian authorities and for years has pushed for the abolition of the obligatory headscarf in Iran under the banner of "MyStealthyFreedom."
Iranian authorities have denied any involvement in alleged plots targeting Alinejad.
In a separate case, two men hired by the Iranian regime to assassinate Alinejad at her New York home were sentenced in October to 25 years in prison, following their conviction for murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering.