By Chad Bray

Source:

April 29, 2010

NEW YORK –The former president of a New York foundation prosecutors have alleged is a front for the Iranian government was sentenced to three months in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice charges last December.

At a hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in Manhattan sentenced Farshid Jahedi, the former president of the Alavi Foundation, to three months in prison, to be followed by six months supervised release. He also was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.

“We were pleased that the judge took into account the many mitigating circumstances surrounding the offense and the otherwise exemplary life led by Mr. Jahedi in imposing a substantially reduced sentence,” said Barry Berke, Jahedi’s lawyer.

Jahedi, who left the foundation last year, had faced a guidelines range of 12 months to 18 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice in December 2009.

He had been with the foundation about 16 months before his arrest in December 2008.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan alleged that Jahedi was observed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents trying to destroy documents after receiving a grand jury subpoena related to the Assa Corp., which prosecutors claim is a front for a front for Iran’s state-owned Bank Melli. The bank is subject to U.S. sanctions for allegedly funneling money to Iran’s nuclear-weapons program.

Federal prosecutors are separately pursuing civil forfeiture actions against the Alavi Foundation and Assa, seeking their ownership stakes in New York’s Piaget building. Alavi and Assa have denied wrongdoing.

Alavi owns about 60% of 650 Fifth Ave., which is known as the Piaget building, while Assa owns the other 40%.

The building in Midtown Manhattan was built in the 1970s by a foundation set up by Iran’s former shah. The foundation was later renamed Alavi.