2 Texas Men Plead Guilty to Transferring Money to Iran

Houston residents Muzzamil Zaidi and Asim Mujtaba Naqvi pleaded guilty last week for their role in a scheme to send money to Iran without permission from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, DOJ announced.

In 2018, Zaidi tried to collect khums, "a religious tax on wealth," on behalf of various imams. From December 2018 to December 2019, Zaidi and Naqvi collected khums payments along with donations from U.S. individuals to help victims of the war in Yemen.

The pair used "friends, family members, and other associates," to transport the cash to Iran in amounts of less than $10,000 so as to not arouse suspicions. One shipment involved a group of 25 individuals traveling via religious pilgrimage to Iraq. The money was then "hand-carried by those travelers to Iran," DOJ said.

The U.S. said the transfer violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.