been indicted for sending millions of dollars to Iran over a nine-year stint, violating the US embargo.
Hossein Lahiji, 47, of McAllen, Texas, Najmeh Vahid, 35, of San Antonio and their contact, Ahmad Iranshahi, 53, of Tehran, have all been indicted for conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The indictment also asserts that Child Foundation head Mehrdad Yasrebi, Iranshahi’s cousin, sent funds to both Iranshahi—the director of the Iran-based Refah Kudak, the Child Foundation’s sister organization in Iran—and a state-owned bank in Iran.
Yasrebi is named as co-conspirator, but was not charged in the indictment
Iranshahi is an Iranian national and is considered a fugitive.
The 26-page federal indictment charges that Lahiji and his wife received tax exemptions for their more than $1.8 million in “purported charitable donations” to the Child Foundation, which gives donations to other aid organizations in Iran. Instead of being routed to aid organizations, however, the funds were allegedly used to establish Iranian bank accounts, to make investments and to buy services and property in Iran, violating the US trade and investment embargo.
Prosecutors allege that between April 2001 and April 2005, Yasrebi and his Child Foundation transferred a total of $5.4 million to Refah Kudak through a Swiss bank account. The funds included some of the Texas couple’s money. Those funds were funneled to the state-run Bank Melli, according to the indictment.
The alleged scheme continued for nine years and lasted between 1998 and 2007, prosecutors said.
In a statement on its website, the Child Foundation said all donations go toward “support of civil society in Iran—and not the Iranian government.” It went on to state: “The charges involve certain actions of our founder that, he admits, did not comply with US law. These problems happened some time ago.”
Lahiji received his license to practice medicine in Texas in 1995 and founded Lahiji Urology Centers in McAllen seven years later.
If convicted on both counts. the couple could face up to 25 years in prison and a fine of $750,000; the charge of conspiracy to defraud the US carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine while conspiracy to commit money laundering has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The maximum sentences are rarely invoked, however.
According to its most recent filings, the Child Foundation employs seven full-time employees and raised $2 million between June 1, 2009, and May 31, 2010. The foundation’s goal is to provide aid to Iranian, Afghan and Indonesian children “in the form of food, medicine, clothing and educational materials, and in some countries, housing and emergency assistance.”