Federal officials are dropping their case against a prominent north-central Iowa neurologist and the IRS is returning $344,000 in money he legally earned. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa’s Office last week dismissed a civil forfeiture case involving Mason City doctor Alireza Yarahmadi.

The IRS had claimed over $344,400 from his bank account last year after suspecting that he made repeated cash withdrawals in increments below $10,000 to evade federal reporting requirements.

Yarahmadi denied any wrongdoing, saying he routinely shifted cash from his bank account to safe deposit boxes for safekeeping. Yarahmadi’s attorney says prosecutors made a very honorable and professional choice to drop the case, adding that Yarahmadi is a native of Iran who is suspicious of banks because his family lost its savings after that country’s revolution in 1979.

(Report Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City)