The sentencing of Guyana-born businessman Ed Ahmad in New York for mortgage fraud conspiracy has now been postponed to September 14, 2016 at 10:00 AM.
Ahmad’s lawyer Steven Kartagener in a letter sent on Thursday to New York Judge Dora Irizarry sought the deferral because of the postponement of the sentencing of former New York State Senator John Sampson to July. Ahmad was a key witness in the Sampson trial and is hoping to benefit from a sentence reduction once the extent of his co-operation is made known. The judge, according to a court document seen by Stabroek News, has since signalled her acceptance of the request for the deferral and September 14 was set as the new date.
Kartagener had in April sought the deferral of sentencing to June 10 to benefit from Sampson’s sentencing which was originally set for Thursday. In that earlier letter, he had said “By granting this adjournment, the Court would be permitting (Ahmad) to get the benefit (of) his literally hundreds of hours served as a cooperator, which will undoubtedly be chronicled at length in the government’s anticipated 5K1 letter…”
The 5 K1 letter is usually filed by the US Government when a defendant provides substantial assistance in the solving of other cases and the Government then seeks a reduction in the sentence.
The September postponement is the sixth granted to Ahmad. The first postponement from January 15, 2016 to February 12, 2016 was a result of an oversight by a probation officer.
The other adjournments from February 12 to March 4th to March 21st and April 25th were as a result of various applications by counsel for Ahmad.
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.
