Treasury says New York firm is a front for Iranian bank

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.

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