Feds charge two men suspected of posing as U.S. agents, giving gifts to Secret Service officers

Federal prosecutors have charged two men suspected of posing as federal agents and giving free apartments and other lavish gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents, including one who worked on the detail of first lady Jill Biden.

Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36 were taken into custody Wednesday night as FBI agents swarmed a luxury building in the Navy Yard neighborhood in the Southeast part of Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors say the two men had falsely claimed to work for the Department of Homeland Security on a special task force investigating violence connected with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

Taherzadeh has been accused of providing Secret Service officers and agents with rent-free apartments, including a penthouse worth more than $40,000 a year, as well as iPhones, drones, televisions, and other gadgets and tools. 

Four Secret Service employees were placed on leave earlier this week as part of the investigation.

The scam began to unravel when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service called the U.S. Special Police Investigation Unit following an assault at the building involving a mail carrier and the men who identified themselves as part of the fake Homeland Security team. 

Authorities have not identified publicly what, if anything, the men were hoping to accomplish by posing as law enforcement officers or by providing gifts. Taherzadeh and Ali are scheduled to appear in court Thursday.