The New York Post yesterday reported that real estate broker Ed Ahmad, who has been charged with mortgage fraud, has been denied permission to travel to Guyana.
Ahmad’s attorney Steven Kartaganer told the court that Ahmad was needed in Guyana to seal an important real estate deal. However, his application to travel was opposed by an attorney for the US government.
The Post said that Ahmad’s “close ties” with Guyana were among the objections raised by Assistant US Attorney Alexander Solomon in opposing the businessman’s request, during a hearing in Brooklyn federal court
Earlier, Kartaganer had told the court that Ahmad was a personal friend of the current president and the past president.
The Post report said that Ahmad is a frequent visitor to Guyana and is known in the country as a friend of President Bharrat Jagdeo. The Post said that the relationship appears to transcend friendship to involve business interests.
It said that in 2009, the Ahmad Group sent building supplies–including roof tiles and kitchen sinks–to Jagdeo at State House in George-town, according to shipping records. Jagdeo is in the process of building and furnishing a new house at ‘Pradoville 2.’
The report said that despite his posting of a US$2.5M bond, the US attorney was of the view that Ahmad–if granted permission to travel out of the country–could choose to remain in Guyana to avoid a New York fraud trial. Judge Gold agreed, and denied the 43-year-old businessman’s request to travel – citing the fact that Guyana has no extradition treaty with the US.
The Post report said that allegations of predatory lending, forged documentation, falsified mortgage information and missing records have dogged Ahmad for years. It said that state officials have investigated the real estate broker five times since 2006. Two of those probes were referred to the Queens District Attorney’s Office for review, according to Department of State records.
The Post said that another probe by the state Banking Department and Department of State in 2007 turned up home buyers who said they were given mortgages for more than they could afford and allegations that their names were forged on documents.
Ahmad was arrested last week by FBI agents on mortgage fraud charges for allegedly defrauding a lender, Countrywide Home Loans, in connection with the purchase of properties in Queens in 2007.
Ahmad migrated to the U.S. in 1983. He started his company, the Ahmad Group, in 1993, according to the company’s web site.
Among his business interests are Century 21 Ahmad Realty, a mortgage brokerage and the Chateau Royale catering hall in Richmond Hill.
One of the alleged straw purchasers in the federal mortgage fraud case was identified as an employee of Ahmad realty firm, according to papers filed by Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
Ahmed has also popped up on the radar in relation to a controversial loan to NY Representative Ed Meeks, who is under federal probe for his role in a Queens charity. Meeks only repaid Ahmad’s personal loan with 12.5 percent interest—after the FBI questioned Ahmad about it several years later.
