Prosecutors say Shamim Mafi helped broker drones, bombs and ammunition for Sudan during its civil war.
LOS ANGELES, CA — Federal prosecutors say a 44-year-old Woodland Hills woman was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after helping arrange weapons sales from Iran to Sudan, including drones, bomb fuses and millions of rounds of ammunition, in a case tied to a war that has devastated Sudan.
Authorities say the case matters now because it places a Southern California resident at the center of an alleged sanctions-busting network that moved military gear from Iran to a foreign buyer while the Sudanese civil war deepened. Prosecutors accuse Shamim Mafi of acting with at least one unnamed co-conspirator through an Oman-based company, Atlas International Business, and say the alleged scheme ran from at least August 2024 into this year. Her first court appearance was set for Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, where she faces a charge of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
According to the criminal complaint, investigators say Mafi was taken into custody Saturday night at LAX as she prepared to leave the country. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced the arrest Sunday and said Mafi is accused of brokering the sale of “drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition” made in Iran and sold to Sudan. Prosecutors say Mafi is an Iranian national who became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 2016 and kept a residence in Woodland Hills while traveling often to Iran, Turkey and Oman. Court papers filed in the Central District of California say the case grew out of search warrant returns, digital communications and business records that investigators say showed Mafi and another person using Atlas International Business to negotiate arms transactions and collect payments.
The complaint lays out several alleged deals in 2024 and 2025. In one, investigators say Mafi helped facilitate the sale of Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones to Sudan’s Ministry of Defense in a contract valued at more than 60 million euros. In another, prosecutors say she and a co-conspirator brokered the sale of 55,000 AM-A-25 bomb fuses for Sudan. The court papers also describe a draft contract for a much larger package that included 70,000 AK-47 rifles, 10 million rounds of 7.62×39 mm ammunition and 1,000 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and shells. Authorities have not said in public filings that all of those items were ultimately delivered, and the complaint makes clear that some transactions were brokered or attempted rather than completed. Investigators say Atlas International Business received more than $7 million in payments in 2025, money they describe as proceeds linked to the alleged trafficking activity.
Prosecutors say one of the clearest pieces of alleged evidence is a letter of intent that Mafi submitted to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with the bomb fuse transaction. The complaint says she sought to buy the fuses for Sudan and asked for instructions needed to prepare a sales contract. Another document described in the affidavit says the fuses would cost $385 each and would require a valid end-user certificate and full advance payment. Investigators also say search warrant returns included WhatsApp messages, draft contracts and translated records tied to Mafi’s business activity. In one section, the affidavit says a Sudanese weapons broker sent Mafi draft contract language in July 2024 for the purchase of armed drone systems. In another, prosecutors say Mafi coordinated travel by a Sudanese delegation to Iran and personally received 6 million euros in payment tied to the drone deal. Mafi’s attorney, if she had one by the time of her arrest, was not publicly identified in the early reporting, and no response from her was included in the court papers made public over the weekend.
The filing also sketches out Mafi’s background as investigators understand it. It says she lived in Istanbul from 2013 to 2016 before becoming a U.S. permanent resident, and it recounts an interview in which she said her first husband had been an officer in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The affidavit alleges she kept in contact with people tied to the Iranian government and that she knew U.S. sanctions restricted such dealings. Prosecutors point to business records, communications and licensing checks to support that claim. The complaint says the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control found no license applications or approvals for Mafi, her alleged co-conspirators or Atlas International Business. It also says State Department licensing records did not show approvals that would have allowed the brokering described in the case. Those allegations are important because the charge is not simply about overseas business activity; it is about whether prosecutors can show she knowingly joined a conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions and export controls while living in the United States.
The broader setting gives the case extra weight. Sudan has been at war since 2023, and the fighting has produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The conflict has driven millions from their homes, strained food supplies and drawn growing concern over the flow of arms into the country. U.S. prosecutors say the alleged transactions described in Mafi’s case would have supplied the Sudanese Armed Forces with military equipment from Iran while that war was already raging. The complaint also places some of the alleged negotiations in a wider regional network that touched Oman and Turkey, with business fronts and foreign intermediaries playing a role. The affidavit says the Oman company, Atlas International Business, was the vehicle used to move or broker some of the transactions. It also says Mafi sought contacts with a U.S. defense company in early 2025 to discuss what she described as a “large project,” though the filing does not accuse that U.S. company of wrongdoing. That part of the complaint helps explain why investigators framed the matter as both a sanctions case and a counterproliferation case.
For now, the legal posture is still at the complaint stage. Mafi was arrested on a criminal complaint dated March 12 and signed by a federal magistrate judge on April 18, according to the court record attached to the affidavit. The charge listed is conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a federal law used to enforce trade and sanctions restrictions. Prosecutors say a conviction could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The affidavit was also used to support search warrants for Mafi’s Woodland Hills residence and for her person and bags at the time of arrest. What happens next is likely to turn on the evidence recovered from those searches, along with records already gathered from phones, messages, financial transactions and business documents. At an initial appearance, a judge would normally address detention, counsel and scheduling. Prosecutors could later seek an indictment, add charges tied to export-control laws or narrow the case depending on what the grand jury and investigators conclude.
Outside the courthouse, the case landed at a moment of sharp public attention on Iran, sanctions enforcement and the reach of foreign conflicts into U.S. cities. The image released with Essayli’s announcement showed a woman being escorted near an airport terminal by a person wearing FBI markings, turning a complex counterproliferation case into a local arrest scene that many Los Angeles residents could picture. But much of the story still remains unseen by the public. The complaint refers to unnamed co-conspirators and foreign representatives rather than fully identifying every person involved. It says some records were translated from Farsi and relies in part on draft contracts and chat messages, which means the government will eventually have to show how those documents fit together and what they prove about intent. For now, the most direct public account comes from the affidavit itself: prosecutors say Mafi used business contacts, travel and company paperwork to help connect Iranian suppliers with Sudanese buyers, while investigators say those moves violated U.S. law.
The case stood Monday as an early but serious federal prosecution, with Mafi due in court in Los Angeles and investigators still tracing the scope of the alleged network. The next clear milestone is her initial court appearance, where prosecutors are expected to outline the charge and the judge will decide the immediate path forward.
Author note: Last updated April 20, 2026.