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Wednesday 22 December 2010Texans arrested in Iran funds investigationSAN ANTONIO — A McAllen doctor and his attorney wife face arraignment Jan. 4 in Portland, Ore., after being charged with secretly sending more than $1.8 million to Iran in funds meant for a children's charity The Associated Press, Dr. Hossein Lahiji, 47, and Najmeh Vahid, 35, were arrested Tuesday by the FBI in San Antonio on fraud and conspiracy charges related to violating the U.S. trade embargo on Iran, their homeland, the San Antonio Express-News reported Wednesday. The two were released on unsecured bonds. The pair deny the allegations, linked to funds since 2001, and say the federal indictment announced last week in Portland is inaccurate. Lahiji, a urologist, told the Express-News that the indictment places them in certain geographic areas when they were elsewhere. "There are a lot of inconsistencies in (the indictment), and we hope to prove our innocence," said Vahid, a lawyer whose practice is based in San Antonio. The charity, Child Foundation, and its leader, Mehrdad Yasrebi, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in Oregon to avoid formal indictment. Yasrebi admitted he funneled money that was meant for food and other assistance to a cousin and to a bank controlled by the Iranian government. The Texas couple is accused of working through Iranian corporations and banks in Switzerland and Dubai. The indictment charges the couple with conspiring to defraud the government and conspiring to launder money by purporting to transfer charitable donations to Iran, while actually keeping control of the money. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. The Child Foundation says it sponsors children in Iran, Indonesia and Afghanistan. The charity is strong and healthy in spite of serious challenges posed by Child Foundation's decision to reach a plea agreement with the U.S. government, the group said, in a statement. "The charges involve certain actions of our founder that, he admits, did not comply with U.S. law. These problems happened some time ago. Child Foundation's board, which no longer includes our founder, remains committed to the appropriate and lawful delivery of your donations to their intended destination," the organization said. Information from: San Antonio Express-News, www.mysanantonio.com
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