Judge: Iran-backed company behind NYC office tower

Associated Press ^ | Sep 16, 2013 10:42 PM EDT | Larry Neumeister

[Olog-hai]

An office tower 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, a judge ruled Monday. …

The U.S. government had said the Alavi Foundation’s sole partner in the ownership of the 36-story Manhattan building was a shell company fronting for a secret interest held by the state-owned bank of Iran, Bank Melli. The Iranian government has been designated by the U.S. as a sponsor of international terrorism, an allegation it has repeatedly denied. …

[piasa]

Wonder who owns this building now?

[Olog-hai]

Most recent story on 650 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan that I can find dates back to 07/20/2016, and a federal appeals judge named Richard Wesley (appointed by George W. Bush) ruled as part of a unanimous three-judge panel that the building cannot be seized and that the building owners were not liable for monetary judgments with respect to terrorist acts linked to Iran.