\n<\/p>\n
The Biden administration, in its last days in office, secretly entered into a sweetheart settlement with an alleged Iranian front group, with the government agreeing to relinquish a $174 million interest in Manhattan real estate that it previously seized for prohibited links to the terror state.<\/p>\n
When The Daily Wire revealed that the Manassas Mosque outside of D.C. pledged its loyalty<\/a> to the \u201cmartyred\u201d Supreme Leader of Iran, numerous officials called for a crackdown on the mosque, which is funded by the Alavi Foundation.<\/p>\n Alavi was originally funded by the shah of Iran prior to the revolution, then taken over by figures linked to the Islamic hardline regime. For years, it used front groups to hide the forbidden relationship, the DOJ said in a 2008 forfeiture action<\/a> against the Assa Corp., which the DOJ said was an offshore front group used by Alavi.<\/p>\n It emerged this week that the Biden administration agreed to settle a long-running case on favorable terms to the foundation \u2013 a decision that could now contribute to increased pro-mullah activity inside America during wartime.<\/p>\n A federal court document shows<\/a> that the court approved a settlement agreement on January 17, 2025, three days before Biden left office. On March 11, 2026, Judge Loretta A. Preska agreed<\/a> to \u201cseal the Order in its entirety,\u201d \u201cnot only from the public, but also from any litigant that is not a party to the Settlement Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n The settlement was first reported by Jewish Insider<\/a>, which located a January 12 filing with the New York State Charity Board that laid out its terms.<\/p>\n It would transfer assets to a new foundation, called the Amir Kabir Foundation, which shares most of the same leaders as Alavi. It would agree to pay victims of Iranian terror who had sued the foundation \u2013 but slowly, and mostly out of proceeds that come from the government agreeing to give back a portion of the building that was seized for its links to Iran.<\/p>\n The terms \u201cprovide for the payment or release of a total of $318 million to the United States government and the Judgment Creditors,\u201d but \u201ca majority of the Payment will be in exchange for the 40% partnership interest in the Fifth Avenue Company previously held by Petitioner\u2019s former partner, Assa, an entity determined to be indirectly owned by Bank Melli, an Iranian bank. The Assa Interest is now held by the United States government,\u201d the charity document said.<\/p>\n The Alavi Foundation owns $300 million in real estate, including properties around the nation\u2019s capital and the remaining 60% interest in the Fifth Avenue skyscraper. The 40% interest that had previously been seized is worth $174 million.<\/p>\n That means instead of paying what it owes, it is seemingly largely meeting its obligations thanks to a gift from the U.S. government. To fund the settlement, the foundation will be able to use rental income from Assa\u2019s share of the building \u201cthat has accumulated over the course of nearly sixteen years of litigation and which is held in a bank account controlled by the U.S. Marshals Service,\u201d the filing said.<\/p>\n It said the terms of the agreement were agreed to by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who would monitor the new foundation for five years.<\/p>\n Lara Burns, a former FBI agent and head of terrorism research at George Washington University\u2019s Program on Extremism, told Jewish Insider that \u201cAllowing Alavi to obfuscate their identity and basically start with a clean slate creates risks related to a continued foreign influence campaign on behalf of a regime that has called for the death of U.S. leaders and who has blatantly stated its intent to cause America harm through a variety of nefarious activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Alavi\u2019s attorney, Daniel Ruzumna, told the publication that Alavi\u2019s board had turned over completely since litigation began, and that leaders of the new entity, the Amir Kabir Foundation, had been interviewed by the Biden administration\u2019s Department of Justice, which did not object. \u201cAKF and its board members have no relationship to the Government of Iran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In 2017, a New York jury \u201cfound the 36-story office building at 650 Fifth Avenue (the \u2018Building\u2019), worth at least $500 million, and other real property and bank accounts forfeitable<\/a> to the United States as proceeds of violations of the Iran sanctions and property involved in laundering the proceeds,\u201d the Department of Justice said at the time, in what was the \u201clargest terrorism-related civil forfeiture in United States history.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHiding in plain sight, this 36-story Manhattan office tower secretly served as a front for the Iranian government and as a gateway for millions of dollars to be funneled to Iran in clear violation of U.S. sanctions laws,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n It said Alavi, the 60% owner, knew that its minority partner was an Iranian front group. The government planned to sell the building and send the proceeds to victims of Iranian terror. But in 2019, the jury verdict was overturned on appeal.<\/p>\n In 2009, the then-head of the Alavi Foundation, Farshid Jahedi, was indicted for \u201callegedly destroying documents subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating the Alavi Foundation\u2019s relationship with Bank Melli Iran and the ownership of a Manhattan office building,\u201d the Department of Justice said<\/a>.<\/p>\n But President Barack Obama gave lenient treatment: In 2010, Jahedi pleaded guilty and was sentenced to only<\/a> three months in prison and a $3,000 fine on two felony counts.<\/p>\n The Alavi Foundation funded the Manassas Mosque 30 miles outside of D.C., which held an event \u201cHonoring Our Leader Shaheed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u201d after the ayatollah was killed during Operation Epic Fury.<\/p>\n In 2023, nine GOP congressmen wrote<\/a> to the Biden administration\u2019s attorney general and director of national intelligence, saying that the Manassas mosque received $200,000 from the Alavi Foundation and \u201ca recent video inside the Mosque showed it is adorned with pictures of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps \u2026 This appears to be part of a network of regime-sponsored mosques acting as agents for a foreign adversary.\u201d<\/p>\n The Manassas Mosque\u2019s imam is Abolfazl Bahram Nahidian, who in 2010 said that Israel was behind 9\/11, and who is currently in Iran. His daughter-in-law has been behind much of the anti-Israel activism in D.C., and posted<\/a> to Instagram a photo that said \u201cSoon we will avenge (your death) from the Zionists and the Americans\u2026 They\u2019ve dug their own graves.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to The Daily Wire\u2019s reporting, Rep. Keith Self (R-TX), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said \u201cThe enemy is inside the gates.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get them the hell out of our country,\u201d Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) said.<\/p>\n