Washington (CNN)  -- An American lawyer has been holding secret negotiations with Iran for the release of an Iranian-American being detained for two years.





Reza Taghavi, a retired businessman from Orange County, California, has been held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since his arrest in May 2008 without ever being charged, his lawyer said.





Los Angeles-based attorney Pierre Prosper told CNN he has been talking to the Iranian government since September 2009 and traveled to Tehran in December to seek the release of Taghavi, a retired businessman accused of supporting an anti-regime group.





Taghavi, 71, traveled frequently to Iran to visit family and friends without incident, according to Prosper. In April 2008, he went to Tehran with his wife. Before he left, he was asked by an acquaintance in Los Angeles to take $200 for a friend in Tehran "who was down on his luck." Los Angeles has a large Persian community.





Taghavi did not know the individual to whom he was asked to deliver the money, Prosper said. He handed over the money and two weeks later was detained by Iranian authorities, after the recipient of the money was arrested on charges of association with an anti-regime group called Tondar.





The group, which seeks to restore the monarchy in Iran, claimed responsibility for the April 12, 2008, bombing of the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada mosque in the city of Shiraz.





Prosper declined to name the man, who he said has since been tried and convicted.





Taghavi has a rag-to-riches story, his 36-year old daughter, Leila Taghavi, told CNN. He brought his family to the United States in 1979, before the revolution, and stayed on in California to keep his family safe. Leila Taghavi said her father taught himself English, started a video game company in his garage and grew it into a successful corporation, which he handed over to his son when he retired 10 years ago.





"His life was the American dream," Leila said. "He learned everything the hard way, sacrificed for his children and taught us to be grateful for the good things. He is wonderful, honest and generous, the kind of father every daughter would want."





Taghavi's family was silent for more than a year about his arrest, fearful his arrest would be politicized in Tehran and Washington by getting the American government involved.





"It was blind faith, really," Leila said, explaining the silence. "Not knowing it would take this long, and fear of the system. There was never a doubt of his innocence."





In September 2009, with no movement on the case and losing hope he would be released, they hired Prosper to contact the State Department and initiate a dialogue with the Iranian government.





Prosper said he contacted the State Department about seeking a consular visit by Swiss diplomats, which was denied because Iran does not recognize the dual citizenship of Iranian-Americans.





The United States and Iran do not have formal relations, and Switzerland serves as the "protecting power" for the U.S. in Tehran.





A U.S. State Department spokesman urged Iran to allow Swiss diplomats to be granted consular access to Taghavi.





"We are adamant that we believe he should be released on humanitarian grounds along with all the Americans who are unjustly held there," Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, told CNN Wednesday.





A senior government official who met with Prosper said the lack of information makes it difficult to help Taghavi.





"As far as we are concerned, there are no facts in the case," the official said. "Our concern is that he should get due process."





Taghavi is one of several Americans in prison in Iran. American hikers Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were detained on July 31, 2009. According to their families, they accidentally strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while on a hiking trip in Iraq's Kurdistan region. They are being held on espionage charges.





Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American scholar who spent four months in jail in
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