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On September 27, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against three Iranian nationals it described as employees of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The indictment alleges that they hacked accounts linked to a U.S. presidential campaign and tried to circulate stolen material before the 2024 election. These are allegations, not findings of guilt: the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
Who did the Justice Department charge?
DOJ said it unsealed an indictment against Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yaser Balaghi. The department described the three as Iranian nationals and IRGC employees. Its announcement concerned alleged hacking and election-interference activity; it did not establish that the defendants committed the alleged acts.
The charges were announced on September 27, 2024. The official materials cited below document that announcement and the allegations, but do not establish a later case disposition.
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What does the indictment allege?
An alleged hacking effort beginning around 2020
DOJ said the alleged conspiracy began around January 2020 and involved attempts to target current and former U.S. officials, members of the media, nongovernmental organizations, and people connected with political campaigns. The department’s announcement describes a wider account-compromise effort that later included campaign-related targets. DOJ’s District of Columbia release sets out the government’s account.
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Alleged campaign account access in 2024
According to DOJ’s summary of the indictment, the alleged operators began targeting personal accounts associated with a U.S. presidential campaign around May 2024. The indictment alleges they accessed some accounts and stole non-public campaign documents and emails.
Alleged attempts to distribute the stolen material
DOJ said the alleged operation shifted in late June 2024 toward circulating the material to journalists and people the defendants believed were associated with another campaign, with the stated aim of harming the targeted campaign before the election. The archived DOJ announcement says unsolicited emails containing campaign material were sent to people believed to be connected with another campaign from June 27 through July 3; neither recipient replied, according to the release.
The archived announcement also says that between July 22 and August 31, 2024, other stolen material concerning potential vice-presidential candidates was sent to members of the news media in an effort to induce publication. These details are allegations described by DOJ, not independently adjudicated findings. The archived Office of Public Affairs release gives the dates and alleged distribution details.
How did the alleged operation work?
DOJ described a combination of phishing and social engineering techniques. In its account, the alleged operators used fraudulent email accounts impersonating prominent people or institutions, along with spoofed login pages designed to capture credentials. They allegedly used compromised accounts to send further spearphishing messages and sought login details as well as multi-factor authentication or recovery codes. DOJ said some attempts succeeded and others did not.
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These methods explain the “hack-and-leak” description: the alleged conduct involved both obtaining private material through account access and trying to get that material circulated. The label does not mean that every targeted account was compromised or that every attempted disclosure succeeded.
What charges and penalties did DOJ describe?
The archived DOJ announcement lists conspiracy charges and other counts involving alleged identity theft, computer access, wire fraud, and material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. It also describes statutory maximum or mandatory penalties associated with certain counts. Those figures describe potential legal exposure, not a forecast of what any defendant would receive as a sentence. A sentence would be determined by a federal judge only after a conviction and consideration of applicable factors.
The linked archived DOJ release summarizes the counts and statutory penalties. The indictment itself is available from the Justice Department.
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DOJ’s legal caveat is explicit: “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” An indictment formally brings charges; it is not a verdict and does not, by itself, prove the allegations. Reporting on the case should therefore distinguish what prosecutors allege from what a court has found.
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Did the United States offer a reward?
DOJ’s archived announcement said the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program had issued a reward of up to $10 million for information about the three defendants, Iran’s interference in U.S. elections, or associated people and entities. “Up to” is the program’s stated ceiling, not a measure of damage or proof of the operation’s reach. The announcement does not establish whether the offer remains active.
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