An American victim of an Iranian sponsored kidnapping is demanding the feds seize a billion-dollar building in Midtown that is owned by an alleged front for the Iranian government.
Jeremy Levin, a former CNN journalist who was abducted in Lebanon by Iran-funded Hezbollah in 1984 and held for a year before he escaped, filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court this week asking that the feds seize 650 Fifth Ave. and distribute the proceeds among American terrorism victims.
Nike recently signed a lease estimated to be worth at least $700 million at the building.
The 36-story office tower is owned in part by the Alavi Foundation, which, according to its online site, promotes “Islamic culture.” Its site is also filled with letters from people including Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, who thanked the foundation for an undisclosed “gift” to its Center for Iranian Studies in 2004.
Levin and his wife, Lucille, say they’re owed $34.4 million from a 2008 judgment. They are asking the US government to seize Alavi’s assets, which include 60 percent of the building. The feds own the other 40 percent after seizing it from the Assa Corp., which is linked to Iran’s national bank.
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