Hundreds of American victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism are set to receive $318 million in compensation following the sale of a 36-story Manhattan office tower, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced.

The payout marks the end of a legal saga stretching nearly two decades. The U.S. government first moved to seize 650 Fifth Avenue — a gleaming skyscraper just steps from Trump Tower — in 2008, after uncovering the Iranian government’s concealed financial stake in the property. What followed was a grinding litigation battle that wound all the way to the Supreme Court before Iran ultimately lost.

Among those slated for compensation are American victims and their families harmed by Iranian-backed attacks in Israel, including the devastating 2001 Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem, a string of suicide bombings throughout the 1990s, and the family of Rabbi Meir Kahane.

The building’s Iranian connection traces back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Originally built with funds from a charitable foundation controlled by the Shah of Iran, the property was seized by the new regime following the revolution. The regime then partnered with Bank Melli Iran — a sanctioned, state-owned institution — and used front companies registered in the Isle of Man and New York, collectively known as Assa, to conceal its ownership and quietly funnel tens of millions of dollars in building income back to Tehran. Federal prosecutors called the arrangement a “deceptive structure.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office filed an initial forfeiture complaint in October 2008, with victim groups piling on claims in the years that followed. After settlements in 2014 and 2017 fell short, a final agreement was reached in January 2025: $318 million in total — an initial payment of $129 million, already disbursed last Friday, and a deferred payment of $189 million due within three years, plus interest.

“Iran has sponsored terrorism for decades,” Clayton said. “For nearly two decades, we pursued hidden Iranian government assets tied to a Manhattan skyscraper to ensure those funds would ultimately compensate victims of Iran-sponsored terrorism rather than terrorists and their enablers.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)