#129: Buying a FlameThrower off TikTok

Welcome to Court Watch #129. We’ll get to TikTok flamethrowers, Elon Musk’s newfound love of anti-SLAPP laws, Chinese biological weapons, a Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit, and Mr. Beast disliking sunlight – among other things in the weekly roundup. But first, let’s start our newsletter with an exclusive. And then we’ll end it with another scoop. Because it’s Friday, you deserve it. 

Terrorism Border Crossing

The search of the electronics of an American traveler returning from Iran uncovered disturbing child exploitation images. However, a closer review of court filings in the criminal case may raise significant national security questions about Iran’s activities in the U.S.

On May 21, prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint against Sharon Gohari, which alleged that the New York man shared explicit sexual images of underage children on WhatsApp. Authorities say they discovered the images after receiving permission from Gohari to perform an initial search of his phone at New York’s JFK airport upon his return from Iran.

A separate and previously unreported court document in the docket filed upon his arrest lays out a much larger investigation into human trafficking and a foreign terrorist organization. 

According to the detention memo, Gohari, in exchange for thousands of dollars, helped facilitate the movement of at least three Iranian nationals from Mexico into the United States. Investigators said they found “numerous communications with foreign telephone numbers, including telephone numbers based in Mexico and Iran. A review of these communications, which appeared in both Spanish and Farsi, revealed extensive communications suggestive of the solicitation and coordination of the unlawful entry of foreign nationals to the United States from Iran and other North, Central, and South American countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.”

One of the men that Gohari allegedly smuggled into the United States reportedly told investigators that “he had previously completed tasks in Iran and Malaysia for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (“IRGC”).” 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), which is prosecuting the case, has a history of investigating the IRGC's criminal activities. In April, prosecutors charged two Iranian nationals with illegal export of drone materials. The prosecutor on Gohari’s case is assigned to the national security cases and the agents working the investigation are assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Matthew Levitt, a Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who follows IRGC criminal cases closely tells Court Watch, “Authorities appear to be charging the accused with the most readily available evidence, pertaining to the receipt of disturbing child sexual abuse material, in an effort to secure his immediate detention.” Levitt stated that the initial charges could be a first step to a more far-reaching superseding indictment on Gohari’s alleged human smuggling activities. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment outside of what was available in the public filings. Gohari’s lawyer, who has a storied history of defending clients against terrorism prosecutions, declined to provide a comment for the record. 

In court filings, authorities note they are not, “at this time”, alleging that Gohari smuggled the Iranian man at the direction of the IRGC or knew of his connections to the terror group. 

The Docket Roundup

• This morning, Trump Media Group filed its amended complaint against a Brazilian judge citing many recent Trump Administration actions that support the premise of the lawsuit.

• A seventy-three-year-old man from Virginia was sentenced to one day in jail, 50 hours of community service, and a $9,800 fine for poisoning bald eagles. We wrote a brief story about the case back in December.

• Speaking of seventy-three-year-olds, a different one was arrested in California for allegedly posting threats on Facebook back in November to kill President Trump.

• The parent of a disabled ten-year-old child purportedly targeted by online trolls is taking on Section 230 and X/Twitter for its content moderation policies (or lack thereof).

• A low-budget airline that transports immigrants for ICE says it needs another week to respond to a lawsuit that it targeted a man who ran an advertising campaign against the company’s work with the immigration enforcement agency.

• If you want to read a 117-page filing outlining a case of a woman accused of fighting for ISIS, prosecutors in New York are your huckleberry. 

• Here’s a sad rundown of how a Nigerian sextortion ring threatened American teenagers and directly resulted in at least one suicide. 

• We’re gonna go out on a limb and say this pro se complainant demanding $333 billion from “Donald Trump & his tariffs” isn’t an actual Saudi Prince.

• A University of California professor says she was fired for her comments on Israel. 

• The lawyers in a case suing X/Twitter lay out why a federal judge in North Texas should recuse himself.

• “The aliens are currently being held in a conference room in a converted Conex shipping container on the U.S. Naval base in Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. This has been identified as the only viable place to house the aliens,” says a DOJ declaration. Also, stay for the moment in the filing when the DOJ may have inadvertently opened up its Defense Department colleagues to more burn pit lawsuits. 

• An update from our exclusive last week about an Afghan man accused of having links to the designated foreign terror group, the Haqqani network. A judge, citing newly declassified information, decided to detain the man pending trial. His lawyers are appealing it. 

• Our bad, your honor. 

• Apropos of nothing, Alaska’s U.S. Attorney’s office hasn’t filed any public criminal charges in the last week. It’s kindof their vibe.

• A father and son from Utah were indicted for allegedly providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization after they purportedly helped a Mexican cartel with its money laundering operation.

• Authorities arrested ‘Wild Bill,’ who allegedly stole fancy cars in Florida and shipped them to Dubai. 

• The saga over unsealing search warrants for the home of two Indiana University researchers goes on, with the researchers themselves now getting involved to ask the court to unseal them and providing some details about the possible case against them.

• Our editor talked to NPR about rising antisemitism in America. 

• In a mildly unique set of criminal charges for domestic terrorism, a man was arrested for material support for allegedly helping a fertility clinic bomber. 

• Here’s some musical drama.

• Who owns Meta’s Thread logo? 

• A twenty-six-year-old Romanian man pleaded guilty to leading a group of “swatters” who threatened at least twenty-five members of Congress, six senior executive branch officials, and former President Joe Biden.

• With the seemingly throwaway line, “plaintiffs may not be detained for immigration purposes in any way, shape or form,” a judge may have inadvertently expanded upon a nationwide injunction she leaned on for her ruling. 

• Your song of the week is a slow build. Also, Caamp has a new album out this morning, so here’s your second song of the week.

• The feds say a native Chinese scholar at the University of Michigan tried to smuggle in a biological pathogen fungus through the Detroit airport via Shanghai.

• MrBeast got his case against a former employee sealed. 

• Average headline from 2025: The Heritage Foundation is suing Airbnb and former Biden White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.

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• A former Los Angeles deputy mayor for public safety agreed to plead guilty for calling in a bomb threat to himself during a virtual meeting at City Hall.

• One of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims is suing the federal government, with claims it failed to act after learning of his abuse.

• There’s an 8.6 million dollar PPP fraud case in South Florida.

• A man was arrested in Virginia after he allegedly sent an email threatening a police officer’s daughter that included an attachment with child sex abuse material.

• Here’s an interesting fact for your Friday. One new lawsuit says that regulations for manicurists and pedicurists in California amount to discrimination because 82% of nail technicians in California are Vietnamese, and 85% are women.

• Here’s a fascinating look into the North Korean government’s multi-million dollar scam.

• Please don’t (allegedly) call the FBI’s threat operations center to make threats. Sure, it cuts out the middleman for prosecutions, but we promise they’re busy enough as it is.

• Two anonymous plaintiffs are suing a porn company for reportedly giving their data to Google.

• Fraudsters are spoofing police department phone numbers down in South Carolina to trick skeptical victims.

• One professional wrestler claims the UFC has a monopoly on violence.

• The DOJ continues to say President Trump’s pardon of January 6th rioters covers unrelated conduct.

• A U.S. Postal Service employee allegedly stole checks from the mail in New Jersey and then tried to sell them on Telegram.

• Another week, another quality control issue with Matt Taibbi’s lawsuit. At this point, it’s impressive. 

• Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is suing acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for malicious prosecution.

• A man who allegedly tried to enter CIA headquarters told guards that he wanted to talk to the Director about helping write his book because the CIA Director is “a wizard and an angel.” All things that immediately come to mind when one thinks of John Ratcliffe.

• The state department desk officer who accepted bribes from Chinese officials in return for classified information pleaded guilty this week. His sentencing is set for September.

• A cybersecurity company named “Scamnetic” says it got scammed by another cybersecurity firm.

• No press release out yet but federal prosecutors in Virginia took down a dark web vender selling illegal drugs.

• The ex-CEO of a chain of alcohol and drug addiction treatment facilities in New Hampshire was arrested for allegedly stalking a senior reporter and editor at New Hampshire Public Radio and their families. According to the criminal complaint, the purported stalking took place after New Hampshire Public Radio published a story detailing allegations of sexual misconduct and abusive leadership by the ex-CEO. 

• America First Policy Institute is suing the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) for not responding to a FOIA request while USIP were locked out of their building. For those who enjoy potential judge-shopping cases, we’d note that the lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas. FOIA lawsuits are typically filed in DC.

• The Justice Department says two foreign nationals tried to procure military equipment to send to China and paid people to stalk a dissident.

• If you like minor league baseball, we have the case for you.

• X/Twitter has invoked California’s anti-SLAPP law in a case with Media Matters.

• A man from Pennsylvania was arrested after he purportedly sent a local elected official an antisemitic threat on Facebook. Prior to his arrest, he reportedly swore that he was drunk, which his partner denied, and called the FBI agent on his case to apologize for being a “keyboard warrior.” A search warrant revealed that he also allegedly texted a friend asking if he was ready to “hunt down jews” and searched online for synagogues in New York City.

One last story flying under the radar that caught our eye this week. A New York postal worker was charged with threatening his colleagues after he allegedly said he would “burn down the post office” with a flamethrower he bought off a TikTok shop. According to charging documents, Walker Kleiman, who has been employed by the U.S. Postal Service for a year, used TikTok and Snapchat to put a ‘Joker’ filter on his face as he purportedly threatened to shoot up a school and murder his co-workers. Following a review of his online activities, U.S. Postal investigators reached out to Kleiman, who reportedly told authorities that “if any n----rs get in my way I will be carrying a flamethrower while delivering the mail and you will be incinerated.” 

Kleiman was arrested on May 14th and held on a mental health detainer. The following day, authorities seized the flamethrower that was delivered and sitting at the front door of his apartment. A judge ordered Kleiman held pending trial. 

And thus concludes a mildly random but newsy week in the dockets. Thanks for reading. 

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