 From CAN: The New York Post reported that the Alavi Foundation, which recently had its assets seized by the government for acting as a front for the Iranian government, donated large sums of money to universities and professors acting in Iran’s interest. The report says that the Alavi Foundation donated $100,000 to Columbia University after the school agreed to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a speaker in 2007. The Foundation also donated $351,600 to the Rutgers Persian Language Program between 2005 and 2007.
The New York Post notes that a Rutgers professor who also used to serve as the head of Rutgers’ Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Hooshang Amirahmadi, “unabashedly has touted Hezbollah and Hamas as legitimate organizations and not terrorists.” The report also listed two other professorships that received Iranian funding via the Alavi Foundation: Gary Sick of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University.
The latter was quoted in the report as comparing the heroes of the movie, “300″ to “those resisting this [U.S.] empire: They are the Iraqi resistance, the Palestinians, Hezbollah.” World Threats 
 by Stephen Suleyman SchwartzExecutive Director, Center for Islamic Pluralism After the recent slaughter at Fort Hood , Texas , commentators and politicians have asked whether political correctness or fear of being criticized as Islamophobic discouraged his colleagues in the military from thoroughly examining the extremist beliefs of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused killer in the military-base massacre.
Some of the non-Muslims who knew him have said, probably correctly – and unfortunately – that they did not know enough about Islam, especially in its radical forms, to assess Hasan’s views. But the weak outcome of a 2003 Senatorial appeal for an inquiry into Islamist financing in America – along with other curious lapses of attention – show that the military is not alone in cringing at the task of investigating Muslim radicals. At the end of 2003, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service, signed by the committee’s then-chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and its then-ranking Democrat, Senator Max Baucus of Montana. (Baucus is now the committee’s chairman.)
The Senate Committee called on the IRS to collect financial information on 24 Islamist groups operating in the U.S.: Al-Haramain Foundation
Alavi Foundation
Benevolence International Foundation
Global Relief Foundation
Help the Needy
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development
Human Appeal International
Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America
International Islamic Relief Organization or Internal Relief Organization
Islamic African Relief Society and/or Islamic American Relief Agency
Islamic Assembly of North America
Islamic Association for Palestine
Islamic Circle of North America
Islamic Foundation of America
Islamic Society of North America
Kind Hearts
Muslim Arab Youth Association
Muslim Student Association
Muslim World League
Rabita Trust
SAAR Foundation and all members and related entities
Solidarity International and/or Solidarity USA
United Association for Studies and Research
World Assembly of Muslim Youth Most of these organizations are obscure for ordinary, non-Muslim Americans even today. But with the exception of the Iran-directed Alavi Foundation, which was the object of an assets seizure proceeding this month, and leaving aside the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society (MAS), and a few other absent players, the list provides a map of the “Wahhabi lobby” of radical Muslim proponents in American.
These organizations are financed by, and in some cases act as direct agencies of, powerful institutions in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, in tandem with their allies in the Muslim Brotherhood. Late in 2005, however, Senator Grassley first announced that investigation of the 24 groups had ended inconclusively, with no evidence of anything “alarming” beyond the capacity for ordinary response by law enforcement; he then reversed his posture and said that his committee would continue collecting information on them. But the Senate Finance Committee produced nothing new after that. More at Hudson New York
The month of November has seen some fascinating developments come to light, showing that an Islamic foundation, allegedly linked to the Iranian government, has made generous donations to several U.S. universities and one "infamous" foundation -- The William J. Clinton Foundation.
Background on The Alavi Foundation
The Alavi Foundation is a New York-based non-profit that claims to devote itself to promoting Islam and the Persian language and culture, contributing millions to schools, mosques, and Islamic center [ source]. For years, it has been under FBI surveillance for alleged ties to Iran, resulting in the FBI and federal prosecutors filing a civil claim on Nov. 12th seeking forfeiture of Alavi's $650 million in assets, among which are a Manhattan skyscraper and various properties in the states of Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and California. Four mosques are included in the seizure. In addition, Alavi's president Farshid Jahedi was indicted on charges of destroying documents related to a grand jury investigation. [ Source]
Alavi's Donations
In December 2008, The foundation donated between $25,000 and $50,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation. Rachel Ehrenfeld of Forbes creates an interesting timeline of Iran's interactions with the U.S. government and its donation to the Clinton foundation (emphasis added):
On Dec. 19, 2008, at 2 p.m., the New York-based Alavi Foundation, which supports Iranian causes, contributed between $25,000 and $50,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation. This can be best described as the ultimate chutzpah, for on the very same day, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted the president of the Alavi Foundation, Farshid Jahedi, "on a charge of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying documents required to be produced under a grand jury subpoena concerning the Alavi Foundation's relationship with Bank Melli Iran and the ownership of a Manhattan office building."
Alavi's contribution to Clinton came just two days after the Treasury Department also designated Alavi's partner, the New York-based ASSA Corp., as a terrorist entity, and the New York Southern District's attorney seized and forfeited its assets. According to the Treasury Department, "Assa ... continued to provide services to Bank Melli by maintaining Melli's interest in 650 Fifth Avenue Co. and transferring income from 650 Fifth Avenue Co. to Bank Melli." ASSA owned 650 Fifth Avenue Co. together with the Alavi Foundation. Incredibly, the government seized only 40% of the 36-story building controlled by ASSA, leaving the Alavi Foundation in charge of the remaining 60%.
• Rutgers University: Between 2005 and 2007, Rutgers has received $351,600 from the Alavi Foundation. From The NY Post (emphasis added):
Between 2005 and 2007, the Alavi Foundation donated $351,600 to the Rutgers Persian language program, a spokesman for the school acknowledged. The university would not comment further.
...
"This is all about Iran laundering their policies through academe," said Michael Rubin, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. "And the ivory tower is prostituting itself for money."
But Amirahmadi disagreed. "Grants from Alavi are made to the universities, not to the professors," he told The Post.
• Columbia University: received $100,000 from Alavi after its highly controversial 2007 agreement to host Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Columbia drew heavy criticism when John Coatsworth, the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, said that just about anyone, except for leaders of countries at war with the U.S., would be invited to speak at Columbia -- even pre-WWII Hitler. Oddly, this is the same campus that has banned the ROTC and has invited and uninvited Jim Gilchrist of the Minutemen Project [ source].
Other universities that have received donations from Alavi are Harvard, Portland State [source], and Sacred Heart [source].
Could this Iranian-linked "charitable" foundation been paying universities to ally themselves with Iran's causes? Isabel Vincent of The New York Post thinks the deep-pocketed organization has aggressively bought sympathetic professors:
The Alavi Foundation — a charity that law-enforcement officials believe is a front for the Iranian government — has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund professorships at Columbia and Rutgers universities. These professors have been apologists for the Iranian government:
Gary Sick, professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia: He [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] made it very clear that, whether he is talking about ‘wiping Israel off the map,’ or ‘erased from the pages of time,’ or whatever the quote is, what he means is that there should be a free referendum among the peoples of the Palestine that existed to the partition in 1948 to vote about the kind of a government they should have. He is confident that, in a free vote, Israel and Israelis would lose that vote and it would turn out to be something else: a unitary state, probably run by the Palestinians.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers: Unfortunately, a large part of the problems between Iran and the US are not based in reality, but are based on myths. The problem of terrorism is a true myth. Iran has not been involved in any terrorist organization. Neither Hezbollah nor Hamas are terrorist organizations . . . The Iranian president’s problem is with Israel, not with America.
Hamid Dabashi, professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature, Columbia: That monstrosity that [director Zack] Snyder pictures [in his film “300”] marching towards Thermopylae is the American empire — and that band of brothers that stood up to that monstrosity are those resisting this empire: They are the Iraqi resistance, the Palestinians, Hezbollah.
The Alavi Foundation: Scrutinized for Years
Amidst accusations that the foundation is doing Iran's bidding here in the U.S. and that it is essentially controlled by Tehran, many are shocked at how the group could own such huge property right in downtown New York City, despite the questions that have circled around Alavi for years. From FoxNews:
In 2002, David Cohen, a former top level CIA official and current chief of intelligence for the NYPD, claimed in a court document that "The Alavi Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization ostensibly run by an independent board of directors but totally controlled by the government of Iran ." He also claimed the foundation "funds a variety of Anti-American causes." ...
In May, the District Attorney of Manhattan, Robert Morganthau, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He told Chairman Senator John Kerry that "we were looking at the Alavi Foundation, this major Iranian foundation in New York and found money going to suspect people, and then we were looking at their banking transactions."
In December, the FBI carted out 100 boxes of records from Alavi's headquarters, all part of an investigation that has ensnared the foundation's former president, Farshid Jahedi. He is a 54-year-old executive who was ordered by prosecutors not to destroy any documents relating to the federal investigation in December. But prosecutors say that instead, he shredded paperwork involving Assa and the Fifth Avenue building, and dumped the torn documents in a garbage can in his hometown of Ardsley, N.Y. He apparently didn't know that the FBI was watching.
Jahedi has been charged with obstruction of justice. His lawyer, Barry Berke, protests his innocence, saying his client couldn't have been obstructing justice because federal prosecutors have copies of the material Jahedi was allegedly trying to destroy. "Mr. Jahedi did not have the intent to obstruct an investigation," he told the court, "because the documents allegedly destroyed contained information that is identical to the documents" authorities have.
The above article has a link for downloading Alavi's tax records.
Other resources:
• More info on the Jahedi indictment here and here
• The FBI's webpage regarding its seeking of assets forfeiture, making connections between Iranian government and Alavi as well as detailing more on Jahedi's involvement here.
• Information regarding Alavi from The Terror Finance Blog
Submitted by KMacGinn: Hummers & Cigarettes
 An Iranian front organization is donating huge sums to American academic institutions who employ pro-Iran, anti-Israel professors and speakers, according to back-to-back reports by the New York Post and New York Times. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been donated to the prestigious Columbia University and Rutgers University for Middle East and Persian studies programs, according to the papers.
The courses are taught by professors who openly slur Israel and express sympathy for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, as well as terrorist groups Hizbullah and Hamas. The Alavi Foundation, which recently had up to $650 million seized by United States federal law enforcement, donated $100,000 to Columbia University in 2007 after the institution agreed to host Ahmadinejad, who is responsible for a bloody crackdown on protesters last summer following a controversial election in Iran, and who frequently denies the Holocaust, as well as Israel's right to exist as a state. Last year, Britain's director of the Brunel University Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, Anthony Glees, reported that up to 48 British universities have been infiltrated by Muslim fundamentalists heavily financed by major Muslim groups, to the tune of more than a quarter billion Sterling. INN
 Anti-Israel, pro-Iran university professors are being funded by a shadowy multimillion-dollar Islamic charity based in Manhattan that the feds charge is an illegal front for the repressive Iranian regime. The deep-pocketed Alavi Foundation has aggressively given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to Columbia University and Rutgers University for Middle Eastern and Persian studies programs that employ professors sympathetic to the Iranian dictatorship. "We found evidence that the government of Iran really controlled everything about the foundation," said Adam Kaufmann, investigations chief at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Federal law-enforcement authorities are in the midst of seizing up to $650 million in assets from the Alavi Foundation, which they charge funnels money to Iran-supported Islamic schools in the United States and to a syndicate of Iranian spies based in Europe. In one of the biggest handouts, the controversial charity donated $100,000 to Columbia University after the Ivy League school agreed to host Iranian leader and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to the foundation's 2007 tax filings obtained by The Post. Rutgers professor Hooshang Amirahmadi, former head of the school's Center for Middle Eastern Studies and president of the American-Iranian Council, a nonprofit advocacy group, unabashedly has touted Hezbollah and Hamas as legitimate organizations and not terrorists. Between 2005 and 2007, the Alavi Foundation donated $351,600 to the Rutgers Persian language program, a spokesman for the school acknowledged. The university would not comment further. Alavi's Web site says its mission is the "promotion of Islamic culture and Persian language." "This is all about Iran laundering their policies through academe," said Michael Rubin, an Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. "And the ivory tower is prostituting itself for money." But Amirahmadi disagreed. "Grants from Alavi are made to the universities, not to the professors," he told The Post. Columbia spokesman Robert Hornsby said Alavi's donations rarely topped more than a few thousand dollars and that the $100,000 donation was its largest single gift. Hornsby added that the school was surprised the foundation had direct ties to the Iranian government. The Alavi foundation declined comment. NYPost
 TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Sunday denounced as 'disgraceful' U.S. moves to seize four mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a Muslim nonprofit organization suspected of Iranian links. Ali Larijani said the moves show that President Barack Obama's slogan for change was deceitful and he was no different from his predecessor George W. Bush. "Extension of sanctions and restrictions against Iran for another year by the American president and the blocking the accounts and assets of the Alavi foundation in America is a real disgrace," he told parliament. "After a year of empty speeches and slogans, the behaviour and conduct of this president in practice is no better than the actions of his predecessor," Larijani added, in his speech broadcast on radio. In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets. The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story Manhattan office tower. Confiscating the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which the U.S. government has accused of bankrolling terrorism and trying to build a nuclear bomb, charges Iran has denied. Obama has offered to engage Iran in dialogue with the hope of reducing tension over the country's nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon but Tehran maintains is peaceful. Obama said Sunday that time is running out for Iran to sign on to a deal to ship its enriched uranium out of the country for further processing. Iranian politicians have rejected the proposed deal but the government says it is still considering it. "The recent actions of this country (U.S.), presenting unimportant and irrational proposals in the nuclear issue which they have called just and fair, all indicate that the alleged change was nothing but a deceitful symbol aimed at deceiving naive politicians," Larijani said. FoxNews
 On November 12, 2009, the Justice Department dealt a major blow to Iranian nuclear ambitions and terrorist financing efforts. The announcement of an amended civil forfeiture complaint against the Alavi Foundation has the potential to cut off a significant source of funding to the Iranian government—funding which is absolutely essential as Iran continues to defy international efforts at curbing nuclear proliferation. The amended complaint in United States v. ASSA Corp., now the largest civil forfeiture claim ever filed, is the latest in a series of moves taken by the United States government aimed at closing front companies funneling money to the Iranian government.
The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges, among other things, that the "Alavi Foundation has been providing numerous services to the Iranian Government," including funneling money to Bank Melli, an institution which has been designated for its role in funding terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Bank Melli was designated under Executive Order 13382—aimed at freezing the assets of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction—on October 25, 2007. At the time of its designation, the Treasury Department explained that: Bank Melli provides financial services, including opening letters of credit and maintaining accounts, for Iranian front companies and entities engaged in proliferation activities. Further, Bank Melli has facilitated the purchase of sensitive materials utilized by Iran's nuclear and missile industry, and has handled transactions for other designated Iranian entities, including Bank Sepa, Defense Industries Organization, and the Shahid Hammas Industrial Group. Following the designation of Bank Melli, the Iranian government began setting up front companies to hide its identity and continue sponsoring terrorism. Through these layers of front companies Bank Melli provided banking services to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and the Qods force, a branch of the IRGC that has been designated under Executive Order 13224 for providing support to terrorist groups including the Taliban, Hizballah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Among the companies set up to mask Iranian activities were the ASSA Corporation and the Alavi Foundation, the two defendants in the recently amended civil forfeiture proceeding. Assa Corporation is owned by Assa Company Limited, a UK entity which is wholly owned and operated by Iranian citizens who represent the interests of Bank Melli. Shortly after ASSA's creation, on December 17, 2008, the Treasury Department designated ASSA as a terrorist financier, and the Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture complaint over ASSAs financial interests in the United States. At the time, senior Treasury official, Stuart Levey, explained "this scheme to use a front company set up by Bank Melli—a known proliferator—to funnel money from the United States to Iran is yet another example of Iran's duplicity." Similarly, the Alavi Foundation has served as a front for Iran's financing of terrorism.
It began as the Pahlavi Foundation, a non-profit organization operated by the Shah of Iran and was later renamed the Mostazafan Foundation of New York and then finally the Alavi Foundation.
Through each of these incarnations, the company has been used by Bank Melli and the Iranian government to finance terror, as detailed in the complaint. Along with ASSA Corporation, the Alavi Foundation maintains control over substantial assets and property within the United States. All would be forfeited should the government prevail at the upcoming trial in Manhattan. Read more,,,, Source: IPT
 NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors took steps Thursday to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government. In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets. The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story glass office tower in New York. Confiscating the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which has been accused by the U.S. government of bankrolling terrorism and trying to build a nuclear bomb. A telephone call and e-mail to Iran's U.N. Mission seeking comment were not immediately answered. Nor was a call to the Alavi Foundation. It is extremely rare for U.S. law enforcement authorities to seize a house of worship, a step fraught with questions about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the U.S. government and American Muslims, many of whom are fearful of a backlash after last week's Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American major. The mosques and the skyscraper will remain open while the forfeiture case works its way through court in what could be a long process. What will happen to them if the government ultimately prevails is unclear. But the government typically sells properties it has seized through forfeiture, and the proceeds are sometimes distributed to crime victims. Prosecutors said the Alavi Foundation managed the office tower on behalf of the Iranian government and, working with a front company known as Assa Corp., illegally funneled millions in rental income to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli.
Bank Melli has been accused by a U.S. Treasury official of providing support for Iran's nuclear program, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank. The U.S. has long suspected the foundation was an arm of the Iranian government; a 97-page complaint details involvement in foundation business by several top Iranian officials, including the deputy prime minister and ambassadors to the United Nations. "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," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. There were no raids Thursday as part of the forfeiture action. The government is simply required to post notices of the civil complaint on the property. As prosecutors outlined their allegations against Alavi, the Islamic centers and the schools they run carried on with normal activity. The mosques' leaders had no immediate comment. Parents lined up in their cars to pick up their children at the schools within the Islamic Education Center of Greater Houston and the Islamic Education Center in Rockville, Md. No notices of the forfeiture action were posted at either place as of late Thursday. At the Islamic Institute of New York, a mosque and school in Queens, two U.S. marshals came to the door and rang the bell repeatedly. The marshals taped a forfeiture notice to the window and left a large document sitting on the ground. After they left a group of men came out of the building and took the document. The fourth Islamic center marked for seizure is in Carmichael, Calif. The skyscraper, known as the Piaget building, was erected in the 1970s under the shah of Iran, who was overthrown in 1979. The tenants include law and investment firms and other businesses. The sleek, modern building, last valued at $570 million to $650 million in 2007, has served as an important source of income for the foundation over the past 36 years. The most recent tax records show the foundation earned $4.5 million from rents in 2007. Rents collected from the building help fund the centers and other ventures, such as sending educational literature to imprisoned Muslims in the U.S. The foundation has also invested in dozens of mosques around the country and supported Iranian academics at prominent universities. If federal prosecutors seize the skyscraper, the Alavi Foundation would have almost no way to continue supporting the Islamic centers, which house schools and mosques. That could leave a major void in Shiite communities, and hard feelings toward the FBI. The forfeiture action comes at a tense moment in U.S.-Iranian relations, with the two sides at odds over Iran's nuclear program and its arrest of three American hikers. But Michael Rubin, an expert on Iran at the American Enterprise Institute, said the timing of the forfeiture action was probably a coincidence, not an effort to influence Iran on those issues. "Suspicion about the Alavi Foundation transcends three administrations," Rubin said. "It's taken ages dealing with the nuts and bolts of the investigation. It's not the type of investigation which is part of any larger strategy." Legal scholars said they know of only a few cases in U.S. history in which law enforcement authorities have seized a house of worship. Marc Stern, a religious-liberty expert with the American Jewish Congress, called such cases extremely rare. The Alavi Foundation is the successor organization to the Pahlavi Foundation, a nonprofit group used by the shah to advance Iran's charitable interests in America. But authorities said its agenda changed after the fall of the shah. In 2007, the United States accused Bank Melli of providing services to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and put the bank on its list of companies whose assets must be frozen. Washington has imposed sanctions against various other Iranian businesses. Source: AP
 By Rachel Ehrenfeld On May 6, 2009, the president of the Alavi Foundation, Farshid Jahedi, was indicted at the Southern District of New York, "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." Yet, this important indictment recived very little attention in the media. The Alavi Foundation was established in 1973 by the Shah of Iran as the Pahlavi Foundation, "to pursue Iran's charitable interests in the United States." It was renamed the Mostazafan Foundation in 1981 by the Ayatollah Khomeini and renamed again in 1992 as the Alavi Foundation. As early as 1979, the foundation and its partner Bank Melli were recognized as procurement fronts for Iran's nuclear weapons program. Twenty years later, the U.S. government recognized Bank Melli as a vehicle controlled by the Iranian Government. The bank was finally designated a terrorist entity on Oct. 25,2007. What took so long? The Alavi Foundation's Web site states that its mission is promoting and supporting Shiite educational, religious and cultural programs: in essence, delivering the mullahs' message to America. The foundation also owns and funds several mosques and educational centers in New York, Maryland, Texas and California. Read more ...Source: The Terror Finance Blog
 |
|
|
Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
E-mail: info AT ReformIslam.org
|
|
|
From CAN:
Posts
