Woodland Hills Woman Pleads Not Guilty to Grand Jury Indictment Charging Iran-to-Sudan Weapons Brokering Through Oman Shell Company
Shamim Mafi, an Iranian-born U.S. permanent resident, was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 1 and pleaded not guilty on May 8 to IEEPA conspiracy charges alleging she used an Oman-registered company to broker a €61.6 million drone sale, 55,000 bomb fuses, and 240 million rounds of ammunition from Iran's defense establishment to Sudan's military — while allegedly admitting to FBI agents at LAX that she knew the activity violated U.S. sanctions.
A federal grand jury in the Central District of California returned an indictment on May 1, 2026 charging Shamim Mafi, also known as Raheleh Mafi, with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and substantive IEEPA violations for her alleged role in brokering the sale of Iranian-made weapons, drones, and ammunition to Sudan's military establishment.
Mafi, 44, an Iranian national and U.S. lawful permanent resident who lived in Woodland Hills, California, pleaded not guilty at arraignment on May 8 before a judge in downtown Los Angeles. Trial is scheduled for June 23, 2026. The judge ordered her to remain in custody pending trial.
The alleged scheme
The indictment charges that beginning in or about February 2024, Mafi and co-conspirators devised and executed a scheme to broker, finance, and facilitate weapons sales on behalf of Iran and the Government of Iran — including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) — to foreign customers, in violation of IEEPA and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR), 31 C.F.R. Part 560.
Mafi used Atlas International Business LLC — also known as Atlas Global Holding and Atlas Tech LLC — as the vehicle for the deals. Atlas International was registered in Oman on or about November 28, 2022, with Mafi and an Iranian business partner designated in the indictment as Co-Conspirator-1 as equal shareholders. The indictment characterizes Atlas International as an entity "owned or controlled" by a U.S. person within the meaning of 31 C.F.R. § 560.215 — making its transactions subject to the same sanctions that apply directly to U.S. persons.
The indictment identifies three contracts allegedly negotiated and executed through Atlas International:
- A contract dated September 6, 2024, valued at €61,656,000, for the sale of Mohajer-6 armed unmanned aerial vehicles — along with ground control stations, guided bombs, bomb release units, and training — from MODAFL to Sudan's Ministry of Defence;
- A contract for the sale of 55,000 AM-A-25 bomb fuses sourced from Iran's Defense Industries Organization (DIO) and the IRGC to a Sudanese front company; and
- A contract dated September 5, 2024, valued at $100,800,000, for the sale of 240 million rounds of 7.62x39mm AK-47 ammunition from Iran to Sudan's Ministry of Defence.
All three Iranian counterparties — the IRGC, MODAFL, and DIO — are designated Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) blocked by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The IRGC is additionally designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Sudan's Defense Industries System (DIS), the indictment's Sudanese counterparty, was designated an SDN by OFAC on June 1, 2023, under Executive Order 14098.
Admissions alleged