A federal judge sentenced Jonathan Loadholt, a 37-year-old Staten Island man, to 10 years in prison for his role in a plot to kill Masih Alinejad, an Iranian American journalist and critic of Iran’s government. Loadholt pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit stalking and money laundering after surveilling Alinejad outside her Brooklyn home in 2024. Prosecutors allege the plot was directed by operatives tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with Loadholt accepting cash payments for his involvement.
Loadholt’s co-defendant, Carlisle Rivera, was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this year. U.S. authorities claim Iran’s government targeted Alinejad for her activism against the regime’s treatment of women and human rights abuses. Loadholt’s defense argued he was unaware of the full murder plot and acted out of financial desperation, though they acknowledged he understood the potential for violence.
Alinejad, who left Iran in 2009, has been a vocal critic of the country’s compulsory hijab laws and has faced multiple assassination attempts in recent years. The Justice Department emphasized the case as an example of Iran’s efforts to silence dissenters in the U.S.