A former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and current civilian contractor has been charged with lying about his ties to China.
Shapour Moinian, 66, was arrested on Oct. 1 for repeatedly making false statements during national security background checks about his contact with foreign nationals, according to the Department of Justice.
He began communicating with a Chinese national in 2017, and since then, Moinian has traveled to Asia multiple times and accepted both direct cash payments from his contact and received payments through a relative’s South Korean bank account.
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Moinian allegedly “knowingly and willfully” provided “materially false, fraudulent, and fictitious statements and representations when he stated that he had not had close or continuing contact with a foreign national,” the Department of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday. Moinian also allegedly denied having any close or continued contact with a foreign national for the past seven years in 2017 and again in 2020.
“The complaint alleges a disturbing failure to reveal information highly relevant to the background clearance process,” said acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “This office is committed to ensuring that individuals in sensitive national security positions are worthy of the trust placed in them.” Grossman commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard, the DOJ’s National Security Division, and the FBI and NCIS agents who diligently pursued this matter.
Following a 2018 trip overseas to meet with his Chinese contact, where he allegedly received a cash payment, Moinian used a web browser to search for resources about sabotage, espionage, spying, and selling military information to a foreign country. A year later, during a subsequent interaction, he requested a $20,000 payment, which he said was for a friend, and two months later, he received a large cash payment.
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The various overseas meetings occurred in places including Hong Kong, Macau, Bali, and Taiwan.
At the time of Moinian’s arrest last week, he was slated to relocate to South Korea to work on a military aircraft being produced there for the country. He had already provided many of his belongings to a company that was going to transport them to South Korea for him, and he had given notice to his apartment complex that he was moving out.
