A Staten Island man was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison for participating in a plot to kill a journalist and prominent critic of Iran‘s government in a case prosecutors say was directed by operatives tied to Tehran.Jonathan Loadholt, 37, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit stalking and money laundering for his role surveilling the target, identified as a journalist and activist critical of the Iranian regime, Masih Alinejad, the Justice Department said.Alinejad, an outspoken opponent of Iran’s compulsory hijab laws and treatment of women, has lived in New York and has been the target of multiple Iranian plots in recent years, including a 2021 kidnapping attempt prosecutors said involved plans to transport her by boat to Venezuela and then Iran.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Loadholt worked with another New York man to stalk Alinejad outside her Brooklyn home in 2024 after being recruited by an associate linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Prosecutors said Loadholt accepted cash payments and used encrypted communications while helping conduct surveillance intended to facilitate Alinejad’s killing.
