By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Before Arian Takherzadeh was caught impersonating a U.S. police agent, he portrayed that he was a rich playboy, who wore fancy watches and drove luxurious cars, and could afford VIP tickets at Washington pro sports games.

The only problem was that he never paid his bills.

The Secret Service placed four agents on leave after Taherzadeh’s arrest and Haider Ali’s April 6 FBI detention. They were allegedly receiving gifts. This news stunned Washington briefly and raised concerns about possible threats to national security.

Taherzadeh’s companies and former employees accumulated more than $1 million of debt over the years that led to his arrest. These included car dealership financing arms and sports companies as well as financial institutions. A review of court documents and other documents shows that the company.

Taherzadeh was absent in at least 12 instances, leading to default judgments by the judges against him.

A brief interview was conducted at his home in Sterling, Virginia on Thursday. Taherzadeh was under house arrest and awaiting trial. He did not contest the evidence of defaults in court records.

Taherzadeh claimed that he believes a lot of the information is misunderstood. “I’m sorry, but I can’t speak for anyone else.

He said that anyone can speak what they like about him. He stated, “Everyone is an opportunist at the moment.”

Ali is also charged with impersonating federal agents and tried to sue Taherzadeh unsuccessfully in 2017 for $150,000 unpaid wages, as well as failing to pay a $1million loan. Court records indicate that Ali was not successful.

According to court records, none of the money Taherzadeh owes was ever recovered.

Michelle Peterson, Taherzadeh’s public defender, declined to comment. Ali and Taherzadeh have yet to plead guilty to criminal charges.

Prosecutors allege that Taherzadeh was a gift giver to Ali and Ali, including an agent assigned to protect Jill Biden. These gifts included rent-free apartments at a Washington luxury compound, drones, iphones, and guns.

The FBI raided the homes of the suspects and found so much surveillance equipment, weapons, and evidence, that the FBI needed to rent a truck to transport it.

They were released to house arrest after a judge found that they weren’t a threat or flight risk.

Ali’s attorney Gregory Smith stated in court that Taherzadeh duped his client. He stated to Reuters, that prosecutors gave an inaccurate account about Ali: “The facts don’t match the rhetoric.”

‘ENTREPRENEUR PLAYBOY’

Court records and documents reviewed by Reuters reveal the defaults Taherzadeh made before he allegedly began posing to be a federal law enforcement officer.

One former associate of the business said that Taherzadeh took money out of his personal bank account.

Out of fear for possible retaliation the associate asked to remain anonymous and sent Reuters communications to his financial institution complaining regarding the theft of funds. He attached to one email a document that showed how a business had spent some of his funds and agreed to credit him for the rest.

According to Washington, D.C., corporate records, Taherzadeh created AET Holdings, an online technology consulting company that offered web hosting.

Around the same period, he worked for the United Negro College Fund which provides scholarships to students at historically Black colleges and universities.

People who had known Taherzadeh described their amazement at his technological skills to Reuters. Reuters obtained an AET Income Statement dated December 2015 that stated the company made more than $4,000,000 in profit and had revenue of $15.8million.

Moses Kamai stated, “It was impressive.” Moses Kamai was hired by AET as a program manager director in December 2015. He received a salary of $190,000. This came just days after receiving a presentation Taherzadeh made to United Negro College Fund (NAACP) and United Negro College Fund. He pitched solidly.

Taherzadeh’s work there was confirmed by their general counsel. He made a business pitch but the fund did not take him up on it.

Kamai claimed that he had tried to attract business to Hawaii and that AET made a deal for him to open an AET branch there.

Taherzadeh refused permission to reimburse Kamai and sign the papers with Hawaii.

Kamai never received his paychecks.

Taherzadeh, at the same moment, was uploading photos to his Instagram account of luxury Mercedes cars and Centurion blacks American Express According to Reuters copies, this card was reserved only for the most wealthy customers.

Taherzadeh also pursued sponsorship deals and VIP box seats with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals NHL team and the Washington Wizards NBA team, and the owners of what is now known as Capital One Arena, according to court records, photographs and two people familiar the matter.

Court records reveal that Taherzadeh bought a license for six seats in a luxury suite valued at more than $400,000 during February 2016.

A September 2015 sponsorship deal was signed with Monumental Sports. He paid more than $300,000. His AET company logo and name would be visible on the scoreboard, and other areas during games. According to a court record,

The court records reveal that Taherzadeh was willing to give 50 games tickets to the U.S. Military in return for AET’s official sponsorship of Military Night.

Photos posted by Taherzadeh on AET Instagram on February 6, 2016 show him at Military Night, standing alongside high-ranking military officers, such as Mark Milley (now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff).

Milley spokesperson said that he doesn’t recall Taherzadeh being present at the event.

Monumental Sports declined to comment.

Court records reveal that Taherzadeh did not pay the sponsorship bill and that the checks he wrote bounced.

Judge awarded Monumental Sports and Arena combined more than $376,000 to the judge in 2017 and Mercedes-Benz Financial received a near $20,000 default judgment on leases that were not paid.

Kamai received a $292,000 default judgment to cover unpaid bills and lost wages. Kamai said that his lawyer has failed to garnish any bank accounts Taherzadeh might have.

Real Estate Dreams

Kamai has court records that show Taherzadeh’s bank accounts with HSBC were shut down in April and May 2016. This was just a few months following a check he made for $65,000 to Monumental Sports.

However, he did not give up on other options.

Taherzadeh looked at houses in Washington, and placed an offer on a McLean property for $5 million. According to Reuters’ copy, and the three others involved, the offer was accepted.

John Lueders, an ex-homeowner, recalls that “he said he was worth millions.”

Taherzadeh provided a redacted HSBC account statement showing that he held approximately $1 million. Reuters was able to review a copy.

It was dated for the period ending on June 11, 2016. This is approximately a month after his accounts were shut down at HSBC.

The spokesperson at HSBC did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Taherzadeh was unable to raise the funds and the property was ultimately sold to another person.

According to Reuters’ buyer’s orders and two other people who were familiar with it, Taherzadeh attempted to also purchase a McLaren 650S Spider car sports car for over $356,000.

One person said that the sale did not materialize.

According to federal prosecutors in 2018, Taherzadeh had begun to purchase firearms and posed as a Department of Homeland Security agent.

However, the people who owe money claim that they have never been able to recover it.

An ex-business associate claimed that he was scammed out of thousands of dollars. He shared what he called a text messaging exchange he had made with Taherzadeh.

Taherzadeh stated, “You have all the answers.” “Essentially, I am admitting that I have committed fraud to you… Please delete this text.”