But Reza Alavi, the research associate who was the target of the alleged extortion, calls the notion of a plot "just too ridiculous to comment on." He said he barely knows Afrasiabi and that he has left the case up to the police.
"I did receive these letters of hatred and threat to my life, and the police investigated," Alavi said.
"I know [Afrasiabi] has had trouble with the center but I don't know much about it," he added.
According to a police report, Rana said she received a message on her mailbox threatening to kill Alavi unless the extortionist was left $500.
After the two met at Au Bon Pain, the report continues, the extortionist called Rana and asked to meet again. Rana, the report says, gave the extortionist $250 at the third and $250 at a fourth meeting two days later.
The report says the extortionist criticized Alavi at the meetings at Au Bon Pain, saying he had "frauded his way through life" and accusing Western-educated Iranians of looking down on other Iranians.
Based on Rana's description of the suspect, Alavi told police of his suspicion of Afrasiabi.
On November 18, Alavi received an envelope addressed to him containing a letter of apology and $500 in cash, according to the report.
But Afrasiabi charges that the police report contains numerous factual errors and inconsistencies.
"I have analyzed this report 100 times and this is my conclusion: that some people have come up with a fictional extortionist and put in him the worst Middle Eastern stereotypes," Afrasiabi said.
He also charged the police with racist conduct.
"If my name was DuPont they never would have done this to me, but there is a flagrant racist aspect to this," he said.
Two disagreements led to the animosity between Afrasiabi and Mottahedeh, Afrasiabi said.
First, Afrasiabi wrote articles for a weekly publication in Tehran encouraging the Iranian government to restore relations with the United States. Mottahedeh told Afrasiabi the articles were too controversial and that he was exploiting his Harvard affiliation, Afrasiabi said.
Second, in an incident Afrasiabi labeled "the real blowing point," he worked with the television program "60 Minutes" to arrange an interview with Iranian leaders and with exiled author Salman Rushdie.
Afrasiabi said that Mottahedeh, when he found out about Afrasiabi's efforts, called him to his office and told him he had to stop the negotiations.
According to Afrasiabi, Mottahedeh was concerned that Harvard would be associated with the effort to get Rushdie clemency and, as a result, would lose lucrative deals with Rushdie's opponents.
After these two incidents, Afrasiabi charged, Mottahedeh began a campaign to discredit Afrasiabi in academic and professional circles.
In July 1993, Afrasiabi bought an advertisement in The Crimson defending himself against what he called "Mottahedeh's character assassination."
Last fall, Afrasiabi filed a formal complaint against Mottahedeh with the Ethics Committee of the Mid-East Studies Association