A businessman whose company was accused of selling 747s to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions is also a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, the Daily Beast reported Friday.
Vahid Alaghband’s company Balli Aviation Ltd. pled guilty to multiple counts stemming from the allegations and was ordered to pay $2 million in criminal fines and $15 million in civil fines, according to the Beast.
The company contributed between $10,000 and $25,000 to the Clinton Foundation and Alaghband describes himself as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative on his company’s website:
One of the two counts against Balli Aviation was that it "conspired to export three Boeing 747 aircraft from the United States to Iran," according to a Justice Department statement, without first obtaining the necessary export licenses from the U.S. government. The company then used its Armenian airline subsidiary to buy the 747s with financing obtained from Mahan Air, Iran’s largest private airline, which is thought by the State Department to be controlled by former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
In 2011, the Treasury Department sanctioned the airline for "providing financial, material and technological support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)," or the expeditionary arm of the Islamic Republic's praetorian military division, now heavily active in both Syria and Iraq. At the time, the Treasury Department accused the Qods Force of "secretly ferrying operatives, weapons and funds" on Mahan flights.
On the Clinton Foundation website, Alaghband’s company is listed as a donor in the $10,001 to $25,000 bracket. Moreover, on the website for Balli Real Estate, a property investment and development subsidiary also based in the UK, his personal bio describes him as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.
When contacted by the Daily Beast, Alaghband denied that he was ever a member of CGI and said he did not recall donating to the Clinton Foundation.