Treasury says New York firm is a front for Iranian bank
By Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — In the latest and perhaps most unusual attempt by the Bush administration to choke off Iran's access to the global financial system, the Treasury Department on Wednesday designated a New York real-estate partnership as a front company for Bank Melli, one of Iran's biggest state-owned banks.
In a related action, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a civil complaint Wednesday seeking a forfeiture of the alleged straw company's 40 percent ownership stake in a 36-story building on Fifth Avenue near Rockefeller Center. The U.S. government had already seized more than $3.1 million in two bank accounts in the U.S.
The Treasury alleged in a statement that Bank Melli had established Assa Corp. as a straw company in order to hold the ownership stake in the prime real estate.
The complaint, built largely from e-mails dating back to 2003, offers a rare detailed look at the Bush administration's longstanding charges that Iran is using the global financial system to fund what it says are nuclear weapons ambitions.
In a statement late Wednesday, Treasury alleged that Assa Corp. funneled rental income it received from its Manhattan tower to the British-controlled Channel Islands. From there, the money was transferred back to Bank Melli, which the Bush administration blacklisted globally last year for allegedly helping finance Iran's military and intelligence agencies.
more...
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/58061.html