WASHINGTON - The FBI has arrested two men living in southeast Washington, D.C. on Wednesday charged with false statements that they falsely impersonated federal agents in order to ingratiate themselves with the U.S. law enforcement and defense community.
As early as February 2020, court documents said that Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36, pretended to be federal agents and convinced real government officials that their employment was legitimate.
Some of those they allegedly deceived were Secret Service agents assigned to the White House, including one in first lady Jill Biden's protective detail.
Four Secret Service agents have been placed on administrative leave pending further investigation, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It is not known if the agent detailed to the first lady was one of those placed on leave.
NBC News was unable to identify lawyers for the two men. Both are detained pending their initial appearances Thursday in D.C. federal district court.
In a statement Thursday morning, the Secret Service said all personnel involved in this matter are on administrative leave and are restricted from accessing Secret Service facilities, equipment, and systems. The Secret Service will be in active coordination with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and adheres to the highest levels of professional standards and conduct. The FBI alleges that both men pretended to work as special agents in the Department of Homeland Security. The criminal complaint states that the pair even obtained insignias and firearms, including handguns and assault rifles, of the type used by federal law enforcement agencies.
Taherzadeh was in a D.C. area building where numerous law enforcement agents live, according to the FBI. The complaint said that Taherzadeh provided members of the Secret Service and a DHS employee with rent-free apartments, as well as iPhones, surveillance systems, a flat-screen television, a generator, law enforcement and a case for storing an assault rifle. The documents said Taherzadeh offered the agents the use of what they said were official government vehicles and proposed buying a $2,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent assigned to first lady Jill Biden's protective detail.
As part of the scheme, the men even recruited a person to be an employee of the DHS and serve on their task force. The complaint said they required that the applicant be shot with an Airsoft rifle to evaluate their pain tolerance and reaction. The applicant was informed that their hiring was in progress after being shot. The two men were caught in the U.S. A Postal Service inspector showed up at the building to investigate an alleged assault involving a USPS employee, the FBI said. The inspector was informed that Taherzadeh and Ali witnessed the incident.
According to the FBI, they told the inspectors that they were investigators with the U.S. Special Police Investigation Unit, which one of them said was part of DHS. The complaint said that Taherzadeh owned a company called United Special Police, which it advertises as a private security and investigative agency, not actual law enforcement. The men claimed to have been involved in undercover gang-related investigations, as well as conducting investigations related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The Postal Service inspector then referred the information to the DHS Office of Inspector General, which referred the information to the FBI.