New York — Asif Raza Merchant of Pakistan was charged in a Brooklyn federal court on Aug. 6 for a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
The 46-year-old with reported ties to Iran is accused of trying to hire a hitman in New York, according to prosecutors. But law enforcement disrupted the plot before anything happened.
“Fortunately, the assassins Merchant tried to hire were undercover FBI Agents,” said Acting Assistant Director Christie Curtis of the FBI New York Field Office.
It all began in April when, after spending time in Iran, Merchant arrived in the United States from Pakistan and contacted a person he thought could help with the scheme. But that individual tipped off law enforcement officials.
A couple months later, in early June, Merchant met an undercover FBI agent to discuss the assassination plot, according to the Justice Department. He reportedly told the agent that it wasn’t “a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing.” Merchant then made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, according to prosecutors, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing.
According to prosecutors, Merchant explained that his plot involved multiple criminal schemes such as: stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home, planning a protest and killing a politician or government official.
Court documents didn’t identify any of the potential targets.
“Working on behalf of others overseas, Merchant planned the murder of U.S. government officials on American soil,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York.
By mid-June, Merchant told undercover agents the hitmen would receive instructions on who to kill either the last week of August or the first week of September, according to the Justice Department. This was to happen after Merchant had left the United States.
Prosecutors allege that Merchant then began arranging means to obtain $5,000 in cash to pay undercover agents an advance payment for the assassination. Merchant reportedly received the money from overseas and on June 21 paid agents in New York. One of the undercover agents told Merchant at the time of payment, “now we’re bonded,” to which Merchant responded “yes,” according to the Justice Department. The undercover agent then said, “Now we know we’re going forward. We’re doing this,” to which Merchant responded “Yes, absolutely,” prosecutors allege.
“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on July 12 but law enforcement agents placed him under arrest before he could leave the country. Merchant has stated that he has a wife and children in Iran and a wife and children in Pakistan.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: "The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security."
Annie Gimbel
