US gov’t moving ahead with sentencing of Ed Ahmad

The US government is now moving forward with the process for the sentencing of fraud convict, Edul Ahmad by the Court of the Eastern District of New York.

The move comes after the end of Ahmad’s testimony in the trial of NY state senator John Sampson which ended with Sampson being convicted on two counts and facing up to ten years in jail.

Ahmad had entered a guilty plea in October, 2012 to mortgage fraud conspiracy in New York and at that point faced up to 10 years in jail and US$15m in fines and restitution. Sentencing was apparently deferred for him to be a cooperating witness in several cases brought by the US government against public officials.

United States Attorney Loretta E. Lynch in a letter yesterday to Judge Dora L Irizarry requested that the court order the United States probation department to begin preparation for the Presentence Investigation Report. Lynch’s letter, seen by Stabroek News noted that Ahmad’s defence counsel Steven Kartagener has asked to be present for any interview of his client conducted by the United States Probation Department.

Ed Ahmad
Ed Ahmad

With his cooperation in the various cases for the US government, Ahmad’s sentence could be dramatically cut but he will likely face stiff restitution and penalties. In December last year, Judge Irizarry ordered Ahmad to make all payments of a forfeiture money judgment to the tune of US$500,000 by certified or bank cheque. The order was part of the agreement Ahmad made with the state following his October 10, 2012 guilty plea.

Ahmad had made a US$40,000 payment to Rep Gregory Meeks (D-NY) in 2007 that the Congressman failed to disclose on his Financial Disclosure Reports for 2007, 2008, and 2009. Meeks subsequently claimed the $40,000 payment was a loan, but there was no note or payments until several years after.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate the matter and noted that Meeks “refused to cooperate with its investigation.”

Ahmad was eventually detained on charges that he operated a US$50 million mortgage-fraud scheme in Queens, New York.

Three alleged co-conspirators in the mortgage fraud scheme— Ahmad’s cricket friends and employees—were also indicted in an associated case.

Queens-based brokers Qayaam Farrouq, Mohamed Gurmohamed and Guyanese cricketer Steve Massiah were charged with defrauding banks and mortgage companies by falsifying mortgage-loan applications to make borrowers appear more creditworthy to financial institutions. The matter against Massiah was dismissed without prejudice.

Ahmad’s case has attracted great interest in Guyana because of his close ties to former president Bharrat Jagdeo. Ahmad had shipped a container of goods to Jagdeo at State House and many questions were asked about this.

Ahmad also operates a hardware facility on the site of the former headquarters of the PPP-aligned Mirror newspaper at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt. The Mirror is no longer printed at this location.

He also co-owns a wood processing facility which was controversially transformed into a housing project. It was recently revealed that the company had quietly approached the Chief Justice’s court last year and secured an order to alter the conditions attached to the sale of the land to permit the housing estate.