First the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development which was charged with funneling money to the Muslim Brotherhood. Now another Islamic charity in trouble with the Feds.
The Alavi Foundation, a foundation that provides Koran to prison inmates seems to have a sideline business as a property manager may funded monies to Iran via a front company Assa Corporation. Assa has funneled money through the Bank of Iran Melli.
Assa Corporation owns mosques in New York City, Houston, Sacramento, Suburban Maryland near Washington D.C.; 100 acres of land in Northern Virginia also near Washington,D.C. and piece De Resistance 36 story office tower on Manhattan’s tony 5th Avenue.
Federal prosecutors took steps Thursday to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.
In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets.
The assets include bank accounts; Islamic centers consisting of schools and mosques in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story glass office tower in New York.
Confiscating the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which has been accused by the U.S. government of bankrolling terrorism and trying to build a nuclear bomb.
A telephone call and e-mail to Iran’s U.N. Mission seeking comment were not immediately answered. Nor was a call to the Alavi Foundation.
It is extremely rare for U.S. law enforcement authorities to seize a house of worship, a step fraught with questions about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the U.S. government and American Muslims, many of whom are fearful of a backlash after last week’s Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American major.
H/T: Hot Air and Michelle Malkin