Part Iran-Owned NYC 5th Avenue Office Tower Worth Up to $700 Million Cleared ****
for Seizure by U.S. Government**** September 17, 2013 2:10 pm 0 comments **** Author:**** Joshua Levitt**** http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/09/17/part-iran-owned-nyc-5th-avenue-office-tower-worth-up-to-700-million-cleared-for-seizure-by-u-s-government/ **** ** ** **** ** ** A 36-story Manhattan office tower part owned through a shell company by the* *** Iranian government has been cleared for forfeiture to the U.S. government by **** a federal judge, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The building is** ** expected to fetch between $500 million and $700 million, the New York Daily* *** News reported.**** ** ** U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest made the forfeiture finding in a case* *** first brought by the U.S. government in 2008, ruling that the building is*** * subject to forfeiture because revenue from it was secretly funneled to a**** state-owned Iranian bank, in violation of a U.S. trade embargo.**** ** ** The U.S. government, on behalf of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Terrorism*** * and National Security Unit of the United States Attorney's Office, argued*** * that the official owner, the Alavi Foundation, was partnered with a shell*** * company controlled by Bank Melli, the state-owned bank of Iran. Because the* *** Iranian government has been designated by the U.S. as a sponsor of**** international terrorism, its assets in the U.S. can be seized by the**** government to fund restitution to terror victims.**** ** ** Judge Forrest agreed that monetary transfers by the shell company, Assa Co., **** to Bank Melli violated money laundering statutes.**** ** ** "There is substantial, un-contradicted evidence that Assa is owned and**** controlled by Bank Melli, and that Bank Melli is wholly owned and controlled **** by Iran," the judge said.**** ** ** The Associated Press reported that the judge rejected Alavi's "core**** defense," because many of the Alavi board members who were involved in the** ** creation of Assa as a front for Bank Melli in 1989 remained with or returned **** to positions with Alavi after 1995, when Iran was designated as a sponsor of **** terror.**** ** ** "The Government argues that Alavi asserts a sort of collective amnesia," the **** judge said. "The court finds the analogy apt and its reality implausible. No **** rational juror could believe in such extraordinary amnesia."**** ** ** The building, at 650 Fifth Avenue, was built in the 1970s on property**** acquired by a not-for-profit corporation formed in New York by then Iranian* *** leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in 1979.**** ** ** "The alleged money laundering occurred when the partnership, Alavi, and Assa **** Corp. distributed the rent with the intent to conceal that it was meant for* *** the benefit of the Iranian government and caused partnership funds to be**** transferred abroad," the judge wrote. "Having engaged in a money laundering* *** violation, the entirety of the 650 Fifth Avenue Building (the business**** premises) and all of the associated bank accounts are subject to forfeiture* *** - even if they were not used in the money laundering offense itself."**** ** ** Prosecutors told the Daily News they believe the decision to be "the largest **** real property forfeiture" in U.S. history. They intend to hand over the bulk **** of any proceeds derived from the forfeiture to relatives of people who died* *** in Iran-aided terror attacks, including 9/11 and the 1993 bombing of a**** Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen, the Daily** ** News said.**** ** ** The decision is subject to a potential appeal, but if the forfeiture moves** ** forward soon, the timing could generate substantial gains for terror**** victims, because of the rising prices of Manhattan office property in**** today's market, the Daily News reported.**** ** ** Commercial real estate appraiser Dan Fasulo said the office tower could**** fetch up to $2,000 a foot, as much as the nearby General Motors Building,*** * and could reach a total sale value of $700 million.**** ** ** The building, at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, totals 380,000 square feet*** * and leases retail space to Juicy Couture and Godiva.**** ** ** ==========================================**** (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this **** message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. 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