Two men accused of impersonating federal agents plead not guilty

Two men accused of impersonating federal agents and offering free apartments and gifts to Secret Service employees have pleaded not guilty. Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali are charged with false impersonation of an officer or employee of the U.S. and unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device.

The two appeared virtually before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, as they had previously been released to home confinement as they await trial.

Prosecutors on Tuesday said they are asking for a protective order in the case to avoid the release of personal identifying information contained in evidence. The evidence includes thousands of documents and pictures and 79 digital devices containing 80 terabytes of data recovered from a raid conducted earlier this month, the government said.