Ardebili was born in 1975 and grew up in Shiraz, Iran. He attended the University of Shiraz, where he studied electrical engineering. His father worked for a municipal tax authority and his mother was a homemaker. Ardebili worked for an Iranian government front company called Shiraz Electronic Industries as an acquisition agent before starting his own company, SBC Technology Group. His business objective was to acquire weapons components and technology for Iran from the west, and primarily the United States, through a front company in Dubai.Shiffman, John, Operation Shakespeare: The True Story of an Elite International Sting, Simon and Schuster. http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Operation-Shakespeare/John-Shiffman/9781451655162
