3 accused of using charity to launder money bound for Iran
By Guillermo Contreras
gcontreras@express-news.net

Three Iranians, two of them living in South Texas, have been indicted on charges that they illegally transferred more than $1.8 million through a Portland charity so they could invest the funds in Iran in violation of America's embargo with that country, according to court records and federal officials.

Najmeh Vahid, 35, of San Antonio; Hossein Lahiji, 47, of McAllen; and Ahmad Iranshahi, 53, of Tehran, Iran, are named in a two-count indictment returned in Portland, Ore., this week that charges them with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to commit money laundering, the U.S. attorney's office in Oregon said in a news release.

The indictment alleges that the defendants transferred Lahiji's and Vahid's purported donations totaling more than $1.8 million to a Portland charity, the Child Foundation, and invested the funds in Iran in violation of the embargo.

According to the indictment, Lahiji and Vahid, who are married, retained interest and control in Iran over a significant part of the transferred funds, yet claimed them as charitable deductions to reduce their U.S. income tax liability.

Lahiji and Vahid are to appear in court in San Antonio next week. Iranshahi is a fugitive, the release said.

“It is imperative that the donating public have confidence that charities providing overseas services are operating in compliance with all applicable U.S. laws,â€