In short
Arian Teherzadeh and Haider Ali impersonate Homeland Security/private police to infiltrate Washington, D.C., obtain access to luxury apartments, and even befriend Secret Service agents—ending in an FBI raid and fraud convictions.
Guest backgrounds
Jerry Crute, former colleague/financial consultant who worked with Teherzadeh in software/IT and later said he was financially defrauded; Justin Roerlick, senior reporter at The Independent who covered the case; Alex Brash (ABC), reporting on sentencing and case developments.
Key claims
They formed United States Special Police LLC, claimed DHS ties, used fake IDs and surveillance gear, and gifted Secret Service agents about $90,000 in perks (including drones, apartments, SUVs, iPhones for GPS tracking). They weren’t spies; the “high-stakes cosplay” was fraud/theft for status and access.
Notable examples
courtside Capital One Arena suite ($400k) and logo sponsorship ($300k) that went unpaid; rent-free luxury units for over two years; FBI seized guns, sniper scopes, drone, body armor, gas masks, and ID-making equipment.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOArian and Haider's Early Days
2:39 to 6:26
Exploring the backgrounds and early business ventures of Arian and Haider.
“In this episode, we dive into the story of Arianne Teherzadeh and Hater Ali and the strange scam that put Washington, D.C.”
Infiltrating Law Enforcement
6:31 to 8:23
How Arian and Haider gained access to high-level law enforcement circles.
“Somehow, this unlikely duo managed to worm their way into the highest levels of the federal police community to the point that the FBI came busting down their door.”
Teherzadeh's Shady Practices
8:25 to 13:19
A deeper look at Arian Teherzadeh's questionable business tactics and failures.
“Reporter Justin Roerlick put it in a more colorful way.”
Consequences and Fallout
13:23 to 14:01
The aftermath of Arian's actions and the impact on those around him.
“Crute ultimately bailed out of the software company once Deherzadeh started to steal from him.”
The Downfall of Arian Taherzadeh
14:01 to 18:52
Explore Arian Taherzadeh's journey from a bounty hunter to a con artist in D.C.
“and then it was, oh my God, Jerry, I'm so sorry.”
The Downfall of Arian Taherzadeh
18:59 to 20:02
Explore Arian Taherzadeh's journey from a bounty hunter to a con artist in D.C.
“That's mintmobile.com slash opportunist.”
The United States Special Police LLC
20:33 to 28:02
Learn about the elaborate fraud scheme by Teherzadeh and Ali posing as law enforcement.
“After years of struggling as entrepreneurs, and stints as a bounty hunter and a limo driver, respectively, Ariane Teherzadeh and Haydar Ali decided to launch a new business venture.”
The Cosplay Con: Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali
28:02 to 31:00
Explore the bizarre story of two men masquerading as federal agents and the consequences that followed.
“At first glance, with their ties to Iran and Pakistan, and their desire to appear as legitimate law enforcement, it looked like they were part of a criminal plot.”
The Cosplay Con: Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali
31:01 to 31:43
Explore the bizarre story of two men masquerading as federal agents and the consequences that followed.
“There's a heatwave out here and the best way to make that bearable is breathable clothes.”
The Fallout: Investigating the Secret Service Scandal
33:06 to 42:05
Delve into the investigation, arrests, and legal consequences faced by Teherzadeh and Ali.
“It's the Secret Service scandal stunning Washington this morning and raising questions about the First Lady's security.”
Show all 11 chapters
Consequences of High-Stakes Cosplay
42:05 to 43:14
Discussion on the potential outcomes for Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali following their actions.
“But it remains to be seen if jail time will actually stop them from seizing yet another opportunity to play a dangerous game of pretend somewhere down the line.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Arian Taherzadeh:This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit Progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
0:32Haider Ali:It was a spring morning in the Navy Yard, an affluent neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The streets were lined with new luxury buildings, many of which house officers and politicians who worked in some of the nation's most hallowed halls. Inside one of these upscale establishments, the quiet was suddenly shattered by a team of FBI agents conducting a raid. The agents poured into the apartment, and what they found was concerning. There were thousands of rounds of ammunition and dozens of guns, including a loaded Glock 19. Sniper scopes, protective vests and body armor, gas masks, even a drone. There was so much equipment, agents needed a moving van to haul it all away.
1:20Haider Ali:But even more concerning, there were dozens of hard drives and equipment to make fake IDs. Plus a passport with visa stamps from Pakistan and Iran. As the agents took their two suspects into custody, many within law enforcement thought they had averted a major catastrophe. The men they arrested were armed and appeared to be dangerous. After all, they could have caused a lot of damage with the weapons at their disposal. but the authorities didn't yet fully understand who they were apprehending. Perhaps the two men were some kind of crooked police officers or maybe even spies. But one thing was for certain, they weren't who they said they were.
2:04Haider Ali:And as an investigation would uncover, they were two guys who saw an opportunity to infiltrate the beating heart of the nation's capital. And they took it.
2:22Haider Ali:This is The Opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One. You're listening to a story told in one episode called Arianne Teherzadeh and Hater Ali, High Stakes Cosplay.
2:38Haider Ali:I'm Sarah James McLaughlin. In this episode, we dive into the story of Arianne Teherzadeh and Hater Ali and the strange scam that put Washington, D.C. on high alert.
3:14Haider Ali:years before the FBI came knocking on their door, Arian Teherzadeh and Hayter Ali were working together in a very different business, software sales. We spoke with Jerry Crute, a financial consultant who worked with the pair, to share some insight into their personalities and business strategies.
3:34Arian Taherzadeh:So how I met Ari, I used to be the controller at the United Negro College Fund in Washington, D.C. Ari was the IT person there. He was a very talented IT person.
3:47Haider Ali:Tejer Zadé was talented and very confident in himself and his abilities, maybe too much so.
3:55Arian Taherzadeh:Pretty much what he's always been like, brash, arrogant, always flashy as far as what dress he was wearing, things like that. Like, he would have straight leg jeans and Chanel shoes on. He would drive, and he would tell you about it also. He would drive a Porsche or the sports car du jour. And he would just tell you about, like, all his successes that he's had in Kansas and things like that.
4:26Haider Ali:Still, Krupp pointed out that as brash and as arrogant as Dejerzadeh could be, he was also charming and highly motivated to succeed. All these traits were assets in the world of entrepreneurship.
4:39Arian Taherzadeh:Yeah, that was kind of his personalities, but that's, you know, that's not your personality in your late 20s, early 30s. Like, you're not that person who's going to, you're not a go-getter who's trying to go to the next level, quite frankly. So that wasn't off-putting or anything like that. And he's relatively charming also for a business person. And he would do that and was kind of par for the course for anyone that was an entrepreneur in a lot of ways, shape or form, be it D.C. or L.A. or New York City. You know, it's one of that person who's looking for that BBT, bigger, better thing.
5:21Haider Ali:This drive and charm helped Tahirzadeh win people to his cause. And Hayter Ali was one of his early longtime allies. You could call him a colleague, but Crute had another term for it.
5:33Arian Taherzadeh:Basically, Hayter was just, for lack of a better word, Hayter was his valet in one way, shape, or form. He was a person who did limousine driving. He was a person that, you know, helped Ari, did things, did his dirty work, for lack of a better word, sometimes.
5:57Haider Ali:Over the years, the duo developed a distinct dynamic with Teherzadeh playing the part of demanding boss and Ali falling into an almost assistant role.
6:07Arian Taherzadeh:If Hayter screwed up something, yeah, Ari would lose it. That was kind of his thing where he, you know, went off the handle on things like that. and kind of guilted you and pushed you like, hey, you're not a team player, you're not doing this, things like that. And they spent a lot of their time together. And that was the thing. Even though Hader had a family, things like that, they spent a large amount of their time together.
6:31Haider Ali:Somehow, this unlikely duo managed to worm their way into the highest levels of the federal police community to the point that the FBI came busting down their door. We spoke with Justin Roerlick, a senior reporter at The Independent, who provided more context on just how shocking and alarming a feat that was.
6:50Arian Taherzadeh:Yeah, I remember the day they were arrested and reading the complaint, the probable cause affidavit and thinking this is insane. I mean, it was really remarkable and a lot different than many of the impersonation cases you see because these guys really managed to get prolonged access to high-level law enforcement. It was astonishing.
7:23Haider Ali:So how did they manage to pull it off? Well, first they started a new business by the name of the United States Special Police LLC, or USSP for short. As it was set up, USSP was a government contractor offering services that included private law enforcement investigation and protection. Around February 2020, Teherzadeh and Ali started palling around D.C., schmoozing and networking, drumming up business for their new company. They told potential clients that their little police force was an official part of the Department of Homeland Security or DHS. The Department of Homeland Security deals with very serious matters, things like anti-terrorism, border security, and disaster prevention and management.
8:16Haider Ali:Dealing with these kinds of issues requires a laser focus on verifiable facts and efficient execution of plans. But Ariane Teherzadeh's skill set lay in a different area. Reporter Justin Roerlick put it in a more colorful way. Ariane was a guy who just kind of bullshitted people and strung them along on stuff and never really came through.
8:45Arian Taherzadeh:I spoke with a guy that worked with him and actually roomed with him in Missouri back in the day. And actually two guys, I mean, one of them had been working in the IT industry with him and said that he, you know, didn't pay him on time. You know, always had an excuse for why he wasn't paying him. If he did pay him, you know, he wound up stiffing him on a bunch of jobs. And another guy who was part of the same circle of friends who roomed with him and said that he was always kind of coming to him with these schemes, money-making schemes.
9:29Haider Ali:So Tejerzadeh had been honing his ability to fake it for years, practicing rackets with much lower stakes.
9:36Arian Taherzadeh:There was something where they were going to try and get the contract to issue dog licenses in this small town. And, you know, it always seemed like a big opportunity and that it would always fall apart at the very end. But what he said was that he was a really gregarious and ingratiating and, you know, likable guy. so that even when he was screwing you, he would somehow be making other people feel as if they weren't getting screwed. I mean, it's a real superpower that, you know, hard to master, I would say. A lot of people don't have that kind of confidence to smile at you while they're stabbing you in the back.
10:33Haider Ali:Jerry Crute commented on what he experienced working with Teherzadeh as Teherzadeh developed this shady superpower.
10:41Arian Taherzadeh:This was more of a consultant more than anything else, but I didn't see money coming in. We didn't see money going out. And if they were going out, it was to pay things that were flashy, things that were, you know, a dog and pony show. So he could say, hey, look at me. We're doing this. We have this deal and we're going to do this.
11:09Haider Ali:In one such flashy display, Tejerzadeh bought a courtside luxury suite in D.C.'s Capital One Arena for$400 ,000. This is where the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Capitals play. He also agreed to a$300 ,000 sponsorship deal to have his company's logo featured on the arena scoreboard. But then he skipped out on the bills. Crute also noted that, despite his ability to charm himself into business deals, Tejerzadeh also had a dark, unpredictable side that made some people wary to work with him. On one occasion, Tahir Zaday responded to his reputation for instability by taking a very alarming picture as a joke.
11:56Arian Taherzadeh:He goes, but we think you're unstable. He goes, no, I'm not unstable. I go, you are a little. And he goes, no, what? Send this to him as a joke. I'm not unstable. And that's where he had the picture of him with the knife and the gun, like making a crazy face, you know, mugging crazily.
12:15Haider Ali:But despite these antics, Tahir Zaday was still striving to keep things on the up and up. At least, back then he was. Allegedly.
12:25Arian Taherzadeh:Oh, 100%. 100 % he was trying to be a legitimate businessman. I mean, that's no doubt at all. He was really trying to do that. He was trying hard to do that. But he just couldn't do it because he couldn't meet those deadlines. He couldn't close that deal. And then he couldn't wait for that three to six months period before you actually get paid for something, for a product that you say you're going to produce.
12:57Haider Ali:It seemed to hear Zaday wasn't great with anything outside of instant gratification. You know, like putting in the hard work. So instead of trying to do things legitimately, like, say, starting a security company and then getting a government contract, he just pretended things already were the way he wanted them to be. But that's not a sustainable business model. Crute ultimately bailed out of the software company once Deherzadeh started to steal from him.
13:28Arian Taherzadeh:A couple years afterwards where I was just like, no, this is, I cannot do this anymore. This is really just starting to get shady. And then the one thing was that I was asked to purchase like, hey, I'm trying to finish this project. I'm trying to purchase this piece of software. I don't have this software. Okay. So I bought it on my own credit card. Okay. And he took that number and used it for entertaining quote unquote clients. He had it. and then it was, oh my God, Jerry, I'm so sorry. I used it by accident. Oh my God, Jerry, I used it by accident again. Let me send you a check. Check would bounce.
14:10Arian Taherzadeh:Let me send you a wire number. Okay, I know what wire numbers are. Like, this is nonsense. Let me send you this, you know. And it was basically, that's where I bailed out where that this is ridiculous.
14:24Haider Ali:DeHairzadeh ran up charges on Crute's personal credit card to the tune of$15 ,000.
14:31Arian Taherzadeh:And I had to just take the loss with my head between my legs and just go like, this is really bad.
14:42Haider Ali:Krut distanced himself from Taherzadeh. But years later, his former co-worker reached out again, this time saying he had turned over a new leaf and started a new job as a bounty hunter. He really did, you know, hit rock bottom or close to it.
15:04Arian Taherzadeh:What we thought at the time was rock bottom, I should say. He said, I've changed over my life, things like that. But then that's when the other side of him came over where he just got a little crazy with guns. And then that's when it was really over, over. You just, someone skipped on their bill, you just hunt them down, find them, and bring them in. You know, that's it. So that was really crazy for him and a crazy time for him. So Arian Tejera Zadeh went straight for a while, but it was only a matter of time before he was
15:41Haider Ali:running another hustle. After developing his BS superpower and becoming a bounty hunter with a penchant for firearms, De Geerzadeh left small-town hustles, and he set his sights on something bigger. He decided he was going to worm his way into the circles of officers and special agents in the nation's capital.
16:09Haider Ali:When De Geerzadeh and Ali showed up in D.C., they made quite an impression with their tall tales. Go big or go home, right? At different times, Tahirzadeh claimed to be a special agent with DHS, a former air marshal, and a former army ranger. Meanwhile, Ali told people he was descended from Middle Eastern royalty, that he helped capture El Chapo, and that he even used to be a Calvin Klein model. But Ali's most alarming claim, from a national security standpoint, was that he had close ties to a senior official in the Pakistani intelligence service. And Ali even had some evidence to support this claim, with multiple Pakistani visas on his passport.
16:59Haider Ali:This was kind of a weird flex for someone trying to pass himself off as DHS. But still, it helped paint the picture of someone who was part of the intelligence community. All in all, it was enough to convince actual federal agents and members of the Secret Service that these guys were serious, they were well-connected, and they knew what they were doing.
17:21Arian Taherzadeh:Oh, they absolutely did at the beginning seem like a natural security threat. Hader Ali was, if I remember correctly, the assistant chief. U.S. attorneys on the case mentioned in the detention memo that that he had ties to Pakistani intelligence. Ariane Teherzadeh was was, you know, of Iranian background. And, you know, there was a tremendous amount of concern, I think, within the law enforcement community, you know, as well as the journalists looking at it from the outside, thinking this looks really bad.
Read the full transcript
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19:32Arian Taherzadeh:When she said I don't dance now, I make money moves, that was a mission statement for a whole new generation. Respect, but that's not the Mount Rushmore. Listen, cash rules everything around me. When that line dropped, it changed the whole hustle. The greatest tracks are never finished. They're just debated forever. Introducing the Sprite Living Tracklist, 50 tracks that shaped the culture from six decades of hip-hop. Scan the QR code on a Sprite or Sprite Zero Sugar to see the full breakdown. Obey your thirst. Sprite. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash?
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20:32Haider Ali:Now, back to the story. After years of struggling as entrepreneurs, and stints as a bounty hunter and a limo driver, respectively, Ariane Teherzadeh and Haydar Ali decided to launch a new business venture. They started their own company, the United States Special Police LLC, and set themselves up in D.C., masquerading as part of the Department of Homeland Security. The duo claimed to have all sorts of experience that they didn't have. But here's the thing, they didn't just talk the talk. They did their homework. They got a machine for programming IDs so that they could make themselves passable credentials.
21:15Haider Ali:They even made a Facebook page for their fake law enforcement agency. And they had the hardware to back up their story. Guns with large capacity ammo devices, surveillance equipment, bulletproof vests that said special police the whole nine yards.
21:31Arian Taherzadeh:They did, I think, play a pretty convincing role as federal agents. I mean, you see the pictures, they look legit. They've got ballistic vests with the proper kind of lettering on them. And, you know, the name of their private security company was something that even sounded like a real federal agency, but wasn't. So, I mean, if, you know, If you were just a regular civilian, it would probably be hard to know that they were not legit. And, you know, amazingly enough, as you pointed out very well, they even fooled real federal agents, which is extremely difficult to do.
22:17Haider Ali:Teherzadeh and Ali even used their fake status as government employees to land themselves some cushy digs. They convinced the managers of three different luxury apartment complexes that they needed certain units and parking spaces for law enforcement operations. And they assured the proprietors that the government would cover the tab. Then they took things a step further by using their fake law enforcement IDs to get security footage in their building, plus a list of everyone else who lived in the building, their apartment numbers, and contact information. They also installed audio and video surveillance systems inside and outside of their units.
22:59Haider Ali:This in turn helped them level up their scam, as many of the other residents in the building actually were legitimately involved in national security. By getting to know their new neighbors, Teherzadeh and Ali also found a new target, people they could connect with to help them get even deeper into the law enforcement and defense community. And they hit the jackpot when they started schmoozing with agents of one of the most well-known security forces in the country, the Secret Service.
23:32Haider Ali:The Secret Service is a federal agency charged with protecting U.S. political leaders and their families, most notably current and former presidents and first families. As far as national security goes, you can't get much higher priority than that. which makes it incredibly important that the agents responsible for protecting the leader of the free world do their jobs well and exercise sound judgment. And these were the same people who Ali and Teherzadeh started to butter up and ingratiate themselves with. Once the duo had an in, they worked it with all their charm and generosity. Teherzadeh and Ali plied their new Secret Service friends with gifts ranging from a generator and survival backpack to a drone and safety equipment worth hundreds of dollars.
24:22Haider Ali:They even got a couple of the agents' rent-free luxury apartments. Tahirzaday and Ali also let the agents borrow their matching black SUVs with emergency lights, which they presented as official government vehicles. They even offered to buy a$2 ,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent assigned to defend First Lady Jill Biden. They also provided some agents with iPhones, which were connected to their family plan. This allowed Teherzadeh and Ali to track the agent's GPS location in real time, which I don't think I need to tell you is a huge breach in security.
25:03Arian Taherzadeh:There are so many red flags in this particular story, it's actually horrifying to me that anybody would buy into this. Certainly it was enough to convince a number of Secret Service officers that these guys were legitimate. How could U.S. Secret Service agents and perhaps other federal agents fall for this scam? Did they understand they were being scammed? Is this about greed?
25:31Haider Ali:Altogether, the duo gifted Secret Service members with around$90 ,000 worth of goods. The agents didn't look too hard at their new friends, but they really should have. Secret Service is a tough job, don't get me wrong, but as nice as it is to get a few perks here and there, this never should have happened. Over the past few years, the Secret Service has had some big blows to their reputation. There was of course the fallout around the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July of 2024. But there have also been other incidents.
26:08Arian Taherzadeh:So I think the majority of the agents are, you know, very professional and really good at what they do. I, you know, I think that we've seen some really public high profile shortcomings in recent years that have, I think, creating quite an issue for the Secret Service. But, you know, Secret Service, I mean, this was surprising to me because Secret Service never seemed like one of these agencies. I mean, yes, there was the Obama-era thing in Colombia where they had the prostitutes and drunken, naked escapades in a hallway, I think, in a hotel. But, I mean, they never seemed to be like an especially unruly agency internally to me, at least.
26:56Arian Taherzadeh:I interviewed a retired Secret Service agent who was on the Obama protective detail. I spoke with him after the attempt on Donald Trump's life in Pennsylvania. One of the broad strokes that he was talking about within the Secret Service is that they are sort of stuck in the past because they promote from within. They promote people that have been there for decades and decades, and it's sort of the same thinking. The few people that I've spoken to who have experience working as Secret Service agents, they do seem to be of the mind that it's time for some new thinking, some new blood.
27:44Haider Ali:But giving away drones in apartments doesn't exactly seem like a lucrative scam. So what were Teherzadeh and Ali getting out of it? What was their angle?
27:54Arian Taherzadeh:And it was a mystery for a long time as to why they were doing this.
28:01Haider Ali:Did these two would-be secret agents have a nefarious purpose? At first glance, with their ties to Iran and Pakistan, and their desire to appear as legitimate law enforcement, it looked like they were part of a criminal plot. But it was just the opposite. Aryan Teherzadeh and Hader Ali weren't undercover agents. They weren't spies. They were just two con men, coveting a more exciting life. They were cosplaying as powerful DC insiders and using their fake lives as an opportunity to hang out with people whose jobs put them in positions of actual power and jeopardy.
28:46Arian Taherzadeh:There was a tremendous amount of concern. But fortunately, you know, by the end of this thing, it just turned out that these guys were kind of cosplaying. I mean, they were private security guards who wanted to feel more important than they were, you know, and kind of got swept up in the action.
29:08Haider Ali:In the end, the Secret Service agents who had been compromised faced internal discipline. One was terminated, one resigned, and two others returned to the service. But there were no criminal proceedings, as there was no quid pro quo. So while it seems that Teherzadeh and Ali didn't conspire to commit violence or real espionage, they certainly did commit fraud and theft. For one thing, they never paid rent on any of the units they commandeered for official government purposes. As it turned out, this real estate scam was an escalation of a racket that Teherzadeh had previously run, but on a smaller scale.
29:54Haider Ali:Here's their former business partner, Jerry Crute, who had seen this hustle before.
30:00Arian Taherzadeh:So that's why he was moving every four months, basically, four to six months. Because he would get in there, quite frankly, give them fake paperwork, as now it's been documented. Give them fake bank statements. They'd go, sure, take our luxury apartment. He goes, I want the first month for free. And they'd be like, sure, because they want to rent that thing out. And then he would pay them partial rent or maybe one month's rent after that. And then the rest of the time, he would not pay it and then wait till he got evicted, which was six months later.
30:32Haider Ali:Their grift went on for over two years as they cheated their victims of more than$750 ,000. Deherzadeh and Ali kept the show going for as long as they could. But soon it was time for them to face the music.
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32:04Arian Taherzadeh:When she said I don't dance now, I make money moves. That was a mission statement for a whole new generation. Respect, but that's not the Mount Rushmore. Listen, cash rules everything around me. When that line dropped, it changed the whole hustle. The greatest tracks are never finished. They're just debated forever. Introducing the Sprite Living Tracklist, 50 tracks that shaped the culture from six decades of hip-hop. Scan the QR code on a Sprite or Sprite Zero Sugar to see the full breakdown. Obey your thirst. Sprite. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash?
32:41Arian Taherzadeh:Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes, and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit Progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
33:04Haider Ali:Now, back to the story.
33:10Arian Taherzadeh:It's the Secret Service scandal stunning Washington this morning and raising questions about the First Lady's security. Two men charged with posing as federal agents for over two years, Arian Taharzadeh and Haider Ali, appearing before a judge Thursday after allegedly convincing
33:27Haider Ali:several Secret Service agents they were Homeland Security officers. In April 2022, Teherzadeh and Ali's secret police performance finally came to a dramatic end.
33:42Arian Taherzadeh:More than a dozen FBI agents rushing into this luxury apartment building in the nation's capital Wednesday, collecting evidence and arresting two men who allegedly posed as Homeland Security officials.
33:54Haider Ali:The FBI agents were treated to quite an alarming scene. FBI agents seized guns, sniper scopes, a drone, police lights, protective vests, gas masks, breach equipment, and law enforcement insignia with equipment to make fake IDs. This raid came after two years of flying high and living rent-free in penthouses full of firearms and high-tech toys. So, they had a pretty good run. And surprisingly, they didn't even slip up in their stories or even tell a lie so brazen that they were found out by their Secret Service agent buddies. Nope. It just so happened that the duo got caught up in an entirely different investigation.
34:47Haider Ali:If it hadn't been for this other investigation, who knows how long Teherzadeh and Ali could have continued duping seasoned federal law enforcement officers. Or how much higher their scheme could have reached. Who knows? They could have even compromised the detail of President Joe Biden himself. Thankfully, the situation was resolved without too much real jeopardy. pretty much the only thing that was damaged was the Secret Service's reputation.
35:17Arian Taherzadeh:It ended in sort of the ideal way. It started out as something that could very well have been a national security, a real national security issue. And as information came out, it turned into kind of a joke. It was like a couple of guys who had a private security business that wanted to be more important than they really were.
35:52Haider Ali:Still, though, it was pretty flagrant for Teherzadeh and Ali to just install themselves as a fake federal law enforcement division. Even Jerry Crute, a former colleague of Teherzadeh and Ali, was shocked by how far the duo took things and the serious ramifications of their actions. And so I was really surprised by that.
36:18Arian Taherzadeh:And quite frankly, even everything I know about Ari and the instability of his personality and, you know, abuses across the board. that I did not think he would go that far. I thought that at a time he'd just be like, oh, okay, this is going far enough. But when it came to the rest of it, the Secret Service and the other side, I was just like, I was truly blown away.
36:47Haider Ali:Aside from the shock, there was also a sense that this con artist duo had finally gotten their comeuppance after years of skating by completely unscathed.
36:59Arian Taherzadeh:what went through my mind was a vindicated you know from all of the you know from the quite frankly the 15 000 hours he stole from me via my credit card so i felt vindicated after that i mean to be quite honest and then i saw a hater's name in there and i was kind of shocked because i really thought they had like gone their separate ways and hater had just stayed with this so it was actually much much more shocking than i and when i read all the articles on what he did i i was like it was almost like he was just doing a cosplay the entire time because he always wanted that control always wanted that power and this is a way where he could do it well it was like i want to pretend i'm this super cop super bounty hunter super entrepreneur you know super businessman and basically he did this as cosplay and it got extremely carried away with it and that's what happened and i'm more surprised quite frankly that hater got sucked into it also i i'm really surprised by that because he doesn't run on that same kind of adrenaline and oxygen that Ari does, where that, you know, Ari is more like a ramjet engine.
38:26Arian Taherzadeh:It needs a lot of fuel and it runs really, really hot and then it completely just collapses.
38:33Haider Ali:The two had certainly fallen a long way from the high life. Ali even asked the court to appoint him a public defender because he didn't have any money.
38:43Arian Taherzadeh:New developments in the case of two men accused of impersonating Homeland Security agents and giving gifts to actual Secret Service agents, even paying their rent. The accused men in federal court in Washington, D.C. and ABC's Alex Brashe joins us with more on what we're learning now. Alex, good morning. Good morning, Whit. So the big questions that government attorneys are going to be trying to figure out this weekend, number one, who are these men? And number two, where did they get their funding? When Teherzadeh and Ali were first arrested, it was unclear who they were and what exactly
39:19Haider Ali:they'd been planning. Whatever they were up to, with all their tactical gear and surveillance equipment, it didn't look good. Upon further investigation, it became clear that they weren't much of a threat to national security. But still, they did plead guilty to several serious crimes, including conspiracy, unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition device, bank fraud, and voyeurism. And an interesting twist to Herzeday, considered to be the mastermind of the whole operation, was given a lighter sentence of 33 months in prison plus three years supervised release, along with paying back$706 ,000 that he'd stolen over the years.
40:11Haider Ali:Meanwhile, Ali was sentenced to 68 months behind bars, three years of supervised release, plus a bill for$760 ,000 in restitution, even though he was viewed as more of an accomplice.
40:28Arian Taherzadeh:I just, I really feel sad for Hayter, quite frankly, because he got a large, large, a big, you know, sentence. His sentence was, I believe, two or three times larger than Ari's. And which sounds like, you know, Ari completely flipped on him, quite frankly. When Ari was truly the head of this, everything going on. and my biggest shock was that Hal Hader got sucked into it that much because he was not like that. So he had to be at a point where that he was hit rock bottom also because he was doing a limo service, and you're not doing a whole lot of limo service during COVID, and that was it. You know, like, you know, friends I've had in photography, you're not doing a whole lot of photography when there's COVID.
41:24Arian Taherzadeh:And so you kind of hit a rock bottom. So my guess is that he hit rock bottom. And so he just went with him as far as whatever path, even more so, or it was going to take him down and hitching his, uh, hitching his wagging up to him.
41:46Haider Ali:The prosecuting U.S. attorney wrote, As this sentence shows, impersonating a member of law enforcement is a serious offense. Those who pretend for the sake of exerting unlawful authority over the public, or for their own financial gain, will face significant consequences. For sure, both Deherzadeh and Ali face significant consequences for what ultimately amounted to high-stakes cosplay. But it remains to be seen if jail time will actually stop them from seizing yet another opportunity to play a dangerous game of pretend somewhere down the line.
42:25Arian Taherzadeh:Ari will come out. He'll be fine. He'll turn a new life. He'll have a huge reflection, and he'll get a job somewhere because he is actually talented at stuff. It's just a matter of to what degree. And it's a matter of, like, he's going to turn over a new leaf and make sure he's got a more straight head, you know, a more level thinking on stuff like that. But that's hard to turn away from where he's going to, you know, it's going to be one or two or three successes where he thinks like, I'm back. And you just never know where that's going to go.
43:14Haider Ali:Thank you for tuning into The Opportunist. This episode was written by Nani Ukwilagu and executive produced by Connor Powell.
43:25Haider Ali:We'll be back next week with new stories about people seeing an opportunity to get ahead and taking it. Until next time.
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From the publisher
In this episode of The Opportunist, we explore the bizarre case of Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, who posed as federal agents and infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. Secret Service with astonishing ease. We delve into the duo's motivations, the extent of their deception, and the ramifications of their actions on national security. Tune in to learn how these two individuals turned deception into an audacious opportunity, exposing serious security flaws surrounding President Joe Biden and his family.
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