Federal charges accusing an assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine and a Kentucky biomedical researcher of violating U.S. trade sanctions against Iran were dismissed after their co-defendant was swapped for a U.S. student imprisoned in Iran since 2016. 

Yale assistant professor and permanent U.S. resident Mahboobe Ghaedi was prepared to change her not guilty plea when the charges were dismissed, according to the court docket.  Co-defendant Maryam Jazayeri, a naturalized U.S. citizen and Kentucky resident, was scheduled to go to trial in February, said Page Pate, her Atlanta attorney.

But after the federal government exchanged Iranian professor Masoud Soleimani for imprisoned Princeton University student Xiyue Wang on Dec. 7, federal prosecutors in Atlanta dismissed the charges against Ghaedi and Jayazeri. Judge Eleanor Ross of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia signed the dismissal order on Dec. 11—just 24 hours after setting Jayazeri's trial date.

Byung J. "BJay" Pak, U.S. attorney of the Northern District of Georgia, said his office first learned of the proposed prisoner swap about two weeks ago. Pak said that, because Soleimani was viewed as the alleged leader, "The fair and just action would be to not proceed" against Ghaedi and Jayazeri.

Soleimani counsel Leonard Franco said his client tentatively reached an agreement to plead guilty to a trade sanctions violation in return for time served and immediate deportation when he learned of the proposed swap.

"They never said why they were willing to dismiss the case," Franco said.  "As a defense attorney, you don't ask why."

Ghaedi's lawyer, former U.S. Attorney Joe Whitley, said Ghaedi is grateful to federal prosecutors for their decision to dismissal the charges and can now can "return to her life and her important scientific work."

The researchers were swept into an international legal imbroglio over U.S. trade sanctions against Iran last year after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord. Soleimani is recognized internationally for stem cell and tissue regeneration research, according to court records. Ghaedi and Jayazeri are former students.

The alleged trade violations derived from eight vials of human growth hormone that customs authorities seized from Jayazeri's luggage in 2016. Jayazeri obtained the hormone, which was intended for Soleimani's research, from Ghaedi, court records said.

Soleimani was secretly indicted by a grand jury last year while living in Iran. After Soleimani secured a U.S. visa for a Mayo Clinic research fellowship—federal authorities canceled it while he was en route to the U.S and detained him without bond once he landed.

Franco said he first learned of the possible deal to free Soleimani two months ago from two lawyers representing Wang's family. Wang was imprisoned on espionage charges by the Iranian government in 2016 while on an academic research trip. 

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in Atlanta began considering a deal to release Soleimani for time served in return for a guilty plea and immediate deportation, Franco said. The lawyers for Wang's family suggested that once Soleimani was deported, the Iranians would release Wang.

"But it was all word of mouth," Franco said.  "Nobody from the Iranian government, nobody from our government said anything to me."

On Dec. 5, Franco said federal prosecutors informed him the deal to swap Soleimani for Wang was a go. On Saturday, Dec. 7, prosecutors alerted Franco that Soleimani had arrived in Switzerland and the swap was imminent. Judge Eleanor Ross of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia then dismissed the charges. Franco said he soon received a text from Soleimani's sister-in-law with a photo of Soleimani on the airport tarmac in Iran being greeted by an Iranian official.