I'm sure you're all aware of the administration's bold counter-terrorism move, announced two days ago: the Fed is seizing the assets of the Alavi Foundation, a group long suspected of managing a New York office tower on behalf of the Iranian government and, while working with a front company known as Assa Corp., has illegally funneled millions in rental income to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli.
Bank Melli, of course, has been accused by a U.S. Treasury official of providing support for Iran's nuclear program, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank. Along with the office tower in New York, the Foundation's assets include bank accounts, schools and 4 mosques, among other properties.
What you may not know, or remember, is something that I was reminded of myself while reading ABC's article on this titanic seizure by the Feds:
The Bush administration's former Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, worked for the Alavi Foundation until February of this year.
From ABC News, September 25, 2007:
Alleged Iranian 'Front' Represented by Mukasey Law Firm
For more than 25 years, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement authorities say they have suspected the New York-based Alavi Foundation is a "front" for Iranian espionage and anti-American activities.
For more than 25 years, court records show the foundation has been publicly defended and represented by the New York law firm where attorney-general nominee Michael Mukasey is a partner: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.
Here's where it gets even more interesting:
Mukasey personally handled at least one matter in court for the foundation.
That case, a real estate dispute, began in 1981 when reports first surfaced that the foundation, originally set up by the Shah, had been taken over by the new Ayatollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mukasey took it to trial in 1984.
The firm insists the foundation has no link to Iran's government.
Did you catch that? Mukasey personally defended the Alavi Foundation from allegations that it was linked to Iran's government.
That would be the same Alavi Foundation that's currently having it's assets seized by the current administration for being...tied to the Iranian government.
"I think we've had a relationship that goes back 20 or so odd years with this foundation. This foundation has made all appropriate filings...since we've represented the foundation," said John Winter, a partner at Patterson Belknap [...]"It is not an alter ego or a front for the Iranian government nor is it controlled by the government of Iran."
The case handled by Mukasey was settled in 1984, two years after the foundation was described in the New York Times as being controlled by the government of Iran.
More recently, the Alavi Foundation was described four years ago by New York Police Department intelligence chief David Cohen, a former CIA official, as "totally controlled by the government of Iran."
"The Alavi Foundation is a non-profit charitable organization ostensibly run by an independent board of directors but totally controlled by the government of Iran," Cohen said in the affidavit...The foundation funds a variety of anti-American causes, including the four Islamic education centers it owns in New York, Maryland, Texas and California...Mosques funded by Alavi have organizations which support Hezbollah and Hamas."
A 2003 Washington Post story said the foundation was also suspected of obtaining "data about U.S. technology" in violation of the U.S. embargo imposed on Iran following the hostage crisis of 1979-81.
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the Alavi Foundation continues to be under investigation and is closely monitored as a "front" for Iran.
Mukasey left Patterson Belknap in 1988 to become a federal judge and rejoined the firm in 2006, and then left again in February of this year.