WASHINGTON, May 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lev L. Dassin, the Acting United
States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that
Farshid Jahedi, the president of the Alavi Foundation, was indicted for
allegedly destroying documents subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating the
Alavi Foundation's relationship with Bank Melli Iran and the ownership of a
Manhattan office building. On December 19, 2008, Jahedi was arrested in New
York City on a criminal complaint in this case.
According to the indictment filed yesterday, the criminal complaint, and other
documents filed in Manhattan federal court:
On December 17, 2008, in connection with a grand jury investigation concerning
the Alavi Foundation and its financial relationship with Bank Melli Iran (Bank
Melli) and two offshore entities controlled by Bank Melli -- Assa Company
Limited and Assa Corporation -- Jahedi was served, as president of Alavi, with
a grand jury subpoena. The subpoena was directed to the Alavi Foundation and
commanded the production to the federal grand jury of financial documents
concerning the Alavi Foundation, Assa Corporation, Assa Company Limited, and
the building located at 650 Fifth Avenue Company. Jahedi was explicitly
cautioned by law enforcement agents not to destroy any documents called for by
the subpoena. The next day, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel
observed Jahedi discarding torn documents into a public trash can. Further
investigation revealed that these documents concerned Assa Limited, Assa
Corporation, and 650 Fifth Avenue Company.
As previously made public in the complaint filed in this matter, the Alavi
Foundation is a successor organization of the Pahlavi Foundation, a non-profit
organization originally operated by the Shah of Iran to pursue Iran's
charitable interests in the United States. In the 1970s, the Pahlavi
Foundation constructed an office tower (the "Building"), located at 650 Fifth
Avenue, New York, N.Y. A substantial loan from Bank Melli Iran (Bank Melli),
a state-owned bank in Iran, financed the construction of the Building.
In 1989, the Alavi Foundation, in partnership with Bank Melli, formed 650
Fifth Avenue Company. To disguise Bank Melli's ownership interest, the
parties agreed to transfer 35% of 650 Fifth Avenue Company to Assa Corporation
(an entity wholly owned by Assa Company Limited). Assa Company Limited is a
Jersey, Channel Islands, entity, which was and has since been wholly owned by
Iranian citizens who represent the interests of Bank Melli. In conjunction
with the transfer of the 35% interest in 650 Fifth Avenue to Assa Corporation,
Bank Melli cancelled its loan on the Building. Today, the Alavi Foundation
owns 60% of 650 Fifth Avenue Company, and Bank Melli, through Assa Corporation
and Assa Company Limited, owns 40% of 650 Fifth Avenue Company...
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS182478+06-May-2009+PRN20090506