Fifth Avenue Highrise Trial Pulls Iran Standoff Into Trump Era

by Greg Farrell, Bloomberg

Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue packs a world of intrigue into a few blocks. Trump Tower at 57th Street was the launch pad for Donald Trump’s run to the White House. Four blocks south, 666 Fifth Ave. is a white elephant that has pushed owner Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-and-law and adviser, into a well-scrutinized hunt for rich investors.

Then there’s the nearly decade-long legal melodrama over a 36-story building across the street from Kushner’s tower. U.S. prosecutors are in the home stretch of an attempt to seize 650 Fifth Ave. and related assets from a charity that owns it, alleging the organization is a front for Iran’s government and that it violated economic sanctions against Iran since 1995.

In a trial entering its fourth week in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors say the building’s primary owner, the Alavi Foundation, has illegally funneled millions of dollars to Iran under cover of its charitable activities. They hope to recapture more than $500 million with the proceeds going to victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism.

Alavi’s lawyers maintain that the foundation is independent of Iran’s government and spends its money on schools, health care and higher education, as well as promoting Persian culture and supporting interfaith studies.

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