Preparations are moving ahead in a New York court for the sentencing on April 25 of Guyana-born businessman Ed Ahmad for mortgage fraud conspiracy.
Sentencing had been deferred on several occasions last year and this year.
The pretrial supervision status report dated April 4, 2016 and seen by Stabroek News said that Ahmad has remained in compliance with all the conditions that had been set when he was released in 2011 pending trial. Ahmad was released on July 7, 2011 on a US$2.5m bond secured by property with a number of conditions including home detention and the restriction of travel to the eastern and southern districts of New York. He was also required to surrender his passport and not apply for a new one.
The report said that Ahmad has been employed as a real estate consultant for his brother’s business, Elite Realtor Associates since January 2013. The report added that Ahmad has made a “positive adjustment to supervision. He has behaved in a responsible and respectful manner throughout the supervision term”.
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 in August 2015 to Judge Dora L Irizarry requested that the court order the United States probation department to begin preparation for the Presentence Investigation Report. Several sentencing dates were set since then.
In his latest letter to the judge of March 3, 2016 seen by Stabroek News, Ahmad’s lawyer Steven Kartagener said that his post-surgical healing from total hip replacement surgery had not progressed as quickly as he had hoped for and he is still doing intense physical therapy. He therefore applied for a further postponement. Kartagener’s request had been granted and sentencing was then set for April 25th at 10 am in Courtroom 4 A South, according to a court document seen by Stabroek News.
There is much local interest in Ahmad’s case because of his close relationship with former President Bharrat Jagdeo and his varied business interests here. Ahmad’s business here currently occupies the former Industrial Site operations of the Mirror newspaper, closely aligned to the PPP.
