Federal authorities made efforts to seize the Alavi Foundation’s 60 percent stake in New York City’s Piaget building on Fifth Ave. as part of their criminal allegations against the organization. The organization is accused of being a front for the Iranian government.
“As today’s complaint alleges in great detail, the Alavi Foundation has effectively been a front for the government of Iran,” said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. “For two decades, the Alavi Foundation’s affairs have been directed by various Iranian officials, including Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, in violation of a series of American laws.”
As with the foundation’s mosque seizures, the building’s tenants/occupants remain free to use the buildings as they had been before the criminal filings.
