650 Fifth Avenue (formerly known as the

Piaget Piaget () may refer to: People with the surname * Édouard Piaget (18171910), Swiss entomologist * Jean Piaget (18961980), Swiss developmental psychologist * Paul Piaget (disambiguation), several people * Solange Piaget Knowles (born 1986), Ameri ...

Building and the Pahlavi Foundation Building) is a 36-story building at

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

and 52nd Street in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The building was designed by John Carl Warnecke & Associates for the Pahlavi Foundation, an organization run by the then-Shah of Iran,

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the ...

, "to pursue Iran's charitable interests in the U.S.". After the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran sought to take control of the Shah's property, including the assets of the Pahlavi Foundation, which was renamed the Alavi Foundation. Tenants who leased space at 650 Fifth Avenue included Ivan F. Boesky, the infamous "greed-is-good" Wall Street speculator who was convicted of insider trading in 1987, and

Marc Rich Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodity, commodities Trader (finance), trader, financier, and businessman. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later indicted in the ...

, a billionaire oil trader whose invention of the spot oil market made his fortune and changed the world economy. The Alavi Foundation itself has its headquarters in Suite 2406.

Iranian ownership

In December 2008, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and Terrorism and National Security Unit of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York sought to seize 40 percent ownership in the building after it charged that

Bank Melli Bank Melli Iran (BMI; ) is the first national and commercial retail bank of Iran. It was the List of companies of Iran, largest Iranian company in terms of annual income with a revenue of 364 657 billion Iranian rial, rials in 2016. It is th ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

owns that percentage of the building in violation of the

sanctions against Iran There have been a number of international sanctions against Iran imposed by a number of countries, especially the United States, and international entities. Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world until it was surpassed by Russia, follo ...

. The other 60 percent of the building is owned by the Alavi Foundation — the

Bonyad Bonyads ( "Foundation") are charitable trusts in Iran that play a major role in Iran's economy. They control an estimated 20% of Iran's GDP, and are second only to the oil industry in manufacturing, trading, and real estate development in Iran ...

that is successor to the Pahlavi Foundation. Bank Melli had originally financed it with a $42 million loan in 1978. According to the U.S. government, the Alavi Foundation transferred 35 percent interest in the building to a

shell company A shell corporation is a company or corporation with no significant assets or operations often formed to obtain financing before beginning business. Shell companies were primarily vehicles for lawfully hiding the identity of their beneficial ...

Assa Company Limited, which had just one employee, in exchange for Bank Melli officially cancelling the loan. However, the shell company officially registered in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, was reported to be owned by Bank Melli. In 2012, the owners hired

CBRE Group CBRE Group, Inc. (an initialism of Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis) is an American commercial real estate services and investment firm with corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas and global financial headquarters at Lever House in Midtown Manh ...

to overhaul the building and lease space and give the appearance that Iran no longer had ties to the building. The new group spent $11 million renovating the building lobby and elevators. In September 2013,

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of the State of New York. Two of these are in New York Ci ...

Judge

Katherine B. Forrest Katherine Bolan Forrest (born February 13, 1964) is a partner at New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. ...

ruled "based on the uncontroverted record evidence, Assa was (and is) a front for ran's first national bankBank Melli, and thus a front for the government of Iran" and thus Alavi should forfeit for the property. Alavi indicated it would appeal the decision. In June 2017, acting U.S. Attorney

Joon H. Kim Joon Hyun Kim (born May 26, 1971) is an American attorney who served as the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from March 2017 to January 2018. He was Deputy U ...

said the United States was prepared to seize the skyscraper—worth between $500 million to $1 billion—after a jury found that the Iranian sanctions had indeed been breached. In 2019, the jury verdict to seize the property was overturned by a federal appeals court.

References

External links

* {{coord, 40.759942, -73.976929, display=title Office buildings completed in 1978 Fifth Avenue Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan Midtown Manhattan Iran–United States relations 1978 establishments in New York City

Iranian ownership

See also

References

External links