Yasrebi is alleged to have helped illegally transfer funds to Iran and to have exaggerated his charitable tax deductions on his income tax. It wasn’t immediately clear if the tax fraud charge was dropped when Yasrebi agreed to plead guilty to violating the embargo.
Also charged was an Iranian-American couple from Texas, Hossain Lahiji and his wife Najmeh Vahid. The pair has pled not guilty to violating the US embargo. It is unclear whether they will change their plea now that Yasrebi has pleaded guilty.
On January 4, Lahiji, 47, and Vahid, 35, appeared in federal court in Portland, Oregon, the location of the headquarters of the Child Foundation that prosecutors say channeled more than $1.8 million disguised as contributions to Iran and for which they received tax deductions.
Ahmad Iranshahi, Yasrebi’s cousin, was also indicted. Iranshahi is described in court documents as a resident of Iran who ran a sister charity, Refah Kudak, to the Child Foundation; he is believed to have helped transfer the funds in Iran. He is not in custody.
Prosecutors also allege that between April 2001 and April 2005, Yasrebi and the Child Foundation transferred a total of $5.4 million to Refah Kudak through a Swiss bank account—the funds included some of the Iranian-American couple’s money. Those funds were funneled to the state-run Bank Melli, according to the indictment. The alleged scheme continued for nine years between 1998 and 2007, prosecutors said.
Lahiji and Vahid are said to have kept control of the money once it had crossed over to Iran, investing some of it in real estate and other ventures. Yasrebi is accused of giving some of the money to Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, a prominent supporter of the Islamic Republic.
In addition to money laundering, the couple was charged with tax evasion for allegedly overstating the amount of donations and backdating receipts in order to cheat on their taxes. Lahiji, a urologist, and Vahid, a lawyer, were released after the hearing.
In a press statement put out late last month, the Child Foundation’s Board of Directors denied any wrongdoing, saying, “The charges are based solely on alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran and provisions of the US Treasury tax codes which set unprecedented difficulties for any organization or individual in America providing humanitarian aid to people living in politically unpopular nations.”
The release went on to say that US sanctions against Iran have hampered the Foundation’s ability to provide aid to Iranian children.
