While he has been criticized plenty for his overall tenure as president, Joe Biden’s final few months in office have generally gotten extra scrutiny.
From his advancing age, to his deteriorating health, to that controversial autopen, to a flurry of pardons (including one he said he wouldn’t do), the home stretch of Biden’s single term in the White House marred an already divisive presidency.
And now more details are leaking about Biden’s actions prior to being replaced by President Donald Trump.
According to The Daily Wire, in the waning days of his presidency, the Biden administration entered a secretive “sweetheart settlement” with an alleged Iranian front group.
The outlet reported that Biden’s government agreed to give up $174 million worth of Manhattan real estate it had previously seized after the group was alleged to have links to Tehran.
Citing court documents, The Daily Wire reported that the “sweetheart settlement” was approved on Jan. 17, 2025.
(Trump would be inaugurated just days later.)
Curiously, over a year into Trump’s second term, Judge Loretta A. Preska agreed to seal the settlement “in its entirety,” and block it “not only from the public, but also from any litigant that is not a party to the Settlement Agreement.”
This settlement “would agree to pay victims of Iranian terror who had sued the foundation — but slowly, and mostly out of proceeds that come from the government agreeing to give back a portion of the building that was seized for its links to Iran,” per The Daily Wire.
The outlet further reported, “The terms ‘provide for the payment or release of a total of $318 million to the United States government and the Judgment Creditors,’ but ‘a majority of the Payment will be in exchange for the 40% partnership interest in the Fifth Avenue Company previously held by Petitioner’s former partner, Assa, an entity determined to be indirectly owned by Bank Melli, an Iranian bank. The Assa Interest is now held by the United States government,’ the charity document said.”
Jewish Insider, which first broke this story, reported that this settlement basically ended an 18-year legal battle with the Iran-connected Alavi Foundation.
However, instead of ending it on favorable terms, the Biden administration gave this “sweetheart settlement” to the Amir Kabir Foundation — a group described by Jewish Insider as having “similar leadership” as Alavi.
The Manhattan real estate is key in all of this.
Rather than paying the amount outright, the organization appeared to be covering much of its obligation with funds that effectively came from the federal government.
The arrangement raises questions about how the settlement is being financed, given that the money does not seem to come directly from the foundation itself.
According to the filing, the payment will be drawn from rental income tied to Assa’s stake in the real estate property — funds that have built up over roughly sixteen years of legal proceedings and are currently held in an account overseen by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Curiously, this agreement was approved by an old Trump foe — New York Attorney General Letitia James oversaw the account for about five years.
“Allowing Alavi to obfuscate their identity and basically start with a clean slate creates risks related to a continued foreign influence campaign on behalf of a regime that has called for the death of U.S. leaders and who has blatantly stated its intent to cause America harm through a variety of nefarious activities,” one former FBI agent described to Jewish Insider.
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