Men charged in impersonation plot deny trying to influence federal agents
By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
The two men arrested last week for allegedly impersonating Homeland Security agents said in court filings Monday that prosecutors took their actions out of context and overhyped their foreign travel.
The filings were the first public explanation offered by the two defendants, Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, who are appearing in court Monday afternoon.
According to Taherzadeh’s lawyer, Michelle Peterson, despite the fact that he was licensed as a Special Police Officer and a private detective, he told law enforcement that the situation was “an embarrassing misrepresentation that got out of control.”
His friendship with law enforcement, Peterson writes, was genuine and not part of some ruse.
“He acknowledged gifts to agents with whom he had a genuine friendship,” according to Peterson. “He acted out of a desire for friendship, not to influence anyone. He never asked for anything from the officers he befriended, never gave them anything for the purpose of gaining something in response, and deeply regrets his involvement in this matter.”
Ali’s lawyer Gregory Smith said Ali didn’t know the extent of Taherzadeh’s lies and genuinely believed he was acting on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security.
Smith also slammed the Justice Department’s “reckless innuendo about how this case somehow involves a threat to national security.” In his filing, he wrote that there is no evidence of Ali having access to foreign money, and that the information he gave to the FBI during a voluntary interview shows he is not a “sophisticated party working with Pakistani intelligence.”
Letters from Ali’s family included in the filing said that he recently converted to the Shia sect in Islam, and the trips abroad were part of his spiritual journey.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
