US-based Guyanese businessman Ed Ahmad is to be sentenced in New York for mortgage fraud conspiracy on January 15, 2016, according to court information seen by Stabroek News.
The sentencing date will come just over three years after the Leonora-born Ahmad entered a guilty plea in a New York court in October, 2012 to mortgage fraud conspiracy.
At that point Ahmad faced a sentence of 10 years in jail and US$15M in fines and restitution. Since then, Ahmad has been a cooperating witness in several cases brought by the US against public officials including most recently New York state senator John Sampson. It appears that the US has exhausted the openings for help for Ahmad and is now proceeding with sentencing. It is thought that with his cooperation in the cases, Ahmad could be facing a much lighter sentence.
The court information seen by Stabroek News says that the Probation Department shall disclose the presentence report (PSR) on or before November 23, 2015. Sentencing is set for January 15, 2016 at 10:00 AM in courtroom 4 A South. Counsel must advise the Probation Department and the Court in writing if there are no PSR objections. A written response to any submitted objections is required from opposing counsel, the court said.
The judge in this case is Judge Dora Lizette Irizarry who has presided over a number of high-profile cases involving Guyanese.
There has been great interest in Ahmad’s case here because of his ties to former President Bharrat Jagdeo and his business interests. He operates a hardware establishment at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt which once used to be the headquarters of the PPP-aligned Mirror newspaper.
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 10th, 2012 guilty plea.
A realtor, Ahmad had been 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 later dismissed without prejudice.
Ahmad had also 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 asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate the matter and noted that Meeks “refused to cooperate with its investigation.”
