Alavi Foundation

"Some 60 percent of this $1 billion skyscraper belongs to the Alavi Foundation, a U.S. based entity, which has been also charged with an accusation of money laundering. The initial 2017 ruling for the seizure of the building charged that Bonyad Alavi violated U.S. sanctions against Iran in 1995 as it was aware that a company named Asa which owned 40 percent of the building was an affiliate of Bank Melli Iran...The Prosecutor's Office in New York had previously said that the Alavi Foundation and Asa Company were fronts for the Islamic Republic and have deposited some $40 million of income from the building to the accounts of Bank Melli Iran and the Iranian government. The Alavi Foundation, formerly known as Pahlavi Foundation, was inaugurated in 1973 in Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, but was confiscated by the revolutionary government after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The foundation is currently tasked with promoting Iranian and Islamic studies in the United States, however, it also lends financial assistance to schools and free clinics. The foundation currently operates under the aegis of Bonyad Mostazafan [Foundation for the Oppressed] which is one of a dozen financial organizations operating under the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei." (Raido Farda, "Federal Court Overturns Ruling To Seize Iran-Linked Skyscraper In Manhattan," 8/10/2019).