FBI arrests 2 men in DC accused of impersonating federal officers, 4 Secret Service agents placed on leave.

FBI agents are seen entering an apartment building in Washington's Navy Yard Wednesday afternoon. An FBI spokesperson told CNN the agents were conducting a court authorized search at that location. A source familiar with the situation said that FBI raid is related to the arrest of the two men who allegedly impersonated Department of Homeland Security agents for more than two years.

(CNN)The FBI arrested two men in Washington, DC, Wednesday for allegedly impersonating Department of Homeland Security agents for more than two years, giving expensive gifts to federal agents in DC, providing them apartments and offering to purchase a weapon for a Secret Service agent assigned to first lady Jill Biden, according to an affidavit.

Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali allegedly provided "rent-free apartments" estimated to cost more than $40,000 annually each to a DHS employee and members of the US Secret Service, all while impersonating federal agents, the affidavit said.

As of Monday, four Secret Service agents were placed on administrative leave pending investigations.

The affidavit details substantial gifts the two defendants allegedly gave federal agents.

According to the document, Taherzadeh allegedly provided a Secret Service agent assigned to protect the White House complex a "rent-free penthouse apartment" for one year at a cost of about $40,200.

Taherzadeh allegedly offered to purchase a $2,000 assault rifle for a Secret Service agent on the first lady's protective detail, the affidavit said.

US officials have arrested two men who had spent thousands of dollars seeking to influence Secret Service agents.

An affidavit filed with a US district court accused Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36 of posing as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees.

FBI officials said the men had used the guise to get closer to four agents - one of whom served on first lady Jill Biden's protection detail.

The agents have been put on leave ahead of an investigation, officials said.

In a statement issued to the BBC, a Secret Service spokesperson said the agents will be "restricted from accessing Secret Service facilities, equipment and systems" as the investigation progresses.

According to the affidavit filed on Wednesday by federal prosecutors, Mr Taherzadeh and Mr Ali spent thousands of dollars buying four Secret Service agents and one DHS official "rent-free apartments (with a total yearly rent of over $40,000 (£30.578) per apartment), iPhones, surveillance systems, a drone, a flat screen television, a case for storing an assault rifle, a generator, and law enforcement paraphernalia".

The pair also offered to buy one agent - who served as a protection officer for Mrs Biden - an assault rifle worth $2,000 (£1,528).

Investigators said the men began to pose as federal agents around February 2020 in the closing months of the Trump administration, but declined to offer a motivation for the ruse and said the investigation is ongoing.

The pair also spent thousands obtaining handguns, rifles and other material to pose as DHS employees, and Mr Taherzadeh often offered their targets the use of vehicles he said belonged to the government.