Brothers convicted of selling computers to countries (Syria,Libya) supporting terror

DALLAS (AP) - A federal jury on Wednesday convicted five Middle Eastern brothers of illegally selling computers to countries that supported terrorism. The men, who ran a computer company called InfoCom Corp, were convicted of conspiracy to violate export regulations and sanctions against Libya and making false statements on export shipping documents.

The jury of nine women and three men deliberated nearly three days after a four-week trial.

The brothers faced a total of 23 counts. One was convicted of all 23 charges; the others were acquitted on some allegations. Each charge carried a maximum penalty of five or 10 years in prison and fines of $50,000 to $500,000. No sentencing date was set.

Defense lawyers said the brothers - Ghassan, Basman, Bayan, Hazim and Ihsan Elashi - were unfairly targeted for prosecution because of their Middle Eastern background.

"I'm just not sure this prosecution would have ever been brought if their names were Mark and Bob Smith and if they were from the Midwest," said Jeff Kearney, Hazim Elashi's lawyer, after the verdict.

Prosecutor James T. Jacks said other people have been prosecuted on similar charges and that shipping laws are designed to protect Americans.

The case was viewed as a warmup for a trial later this year on charges that three of the brothers used the computer business to help funnel money to a top leader of the militant group Hamas.

The Elashis were accused of making 11 shipments of computers and equipment to Libya and Syria - some of them routed through Malta and Italy - in the late 1990s.

The United States limited exports to those countries, deeming them to be state sponsors of terrorism.

The FBI investigated InfoCom for several years and raided the business the week before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Elashis were arrested in a series of early morning raids on their homes in December 2002.

Here is The Dallas Morning News report, fyi:

Elashi brothers convicted in export case
08:11 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 7, 2004
From Staff and Wire Reports

A federal court jury on Wednesday convicted five brothers of conspiring to use their Richardson computer services business to make illegal shipments of high-tech goods to Libya and Syria, two nations deemed state sponsors of terrorism.
After deliberating more than 18 hours over three days, the nine-woman, three-man jury concluded that Ghassan Elashi and his brothers, Bayan, Basman, Hazim and Ihsan, repeatedly violated U.S. export laws between 1995 and 2000.
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The jury's verdict was a mixed one. While the brothers were convicted of making shipments to Syria and Libya and conspiring to undervalue shipments to other countries, all but Basman Elashi were acquitted on most charges alleging individual false statements.
A spokesman for the team of prominent defense attorneys told reporters after the verdicts that he continued to believe the Elashis had been singled out because they were Palestinian Muslims. An appeal of the convictions is likely, he said. "I think this is still our position that the government overreached," Mike Gibson said. "If they were not of their nationality and religion, they would have been prosecuted administratively and not been prosecuted criminally."
Some of the convictions carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Convictions on other charges carry the possibility of a 10-year term.
No sentencing date was set by U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay.
Ghassan, Basman and Bayan Elashi face a separate federal trial on multiple charges alleging they did business with Mousa Abu Marzook, the deputy political leader of the pro-Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. No date has been set for that proceeding.
Ghassan Elashi was the only defendant allowed to remain free. He and several members of his family left the courthouse without responding to reporters. His daughter, Noor, said after the verdict that her family would have no comment.
The jury was escorted from the courthouse by federal marshals. None of the panel members made any comment to reporters.
The verdict came after three weeks of testimony from government witnesses who contended that the Elashi brothers had run their company, InfoCom Corp., like an outlaw enterprise with little or no regard for export laws or lying to the government.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Jacks, the lead prosecutor, said he was grateful for the jury's verdict and said it underscored that U.S. export laws exist to restrict shipments of goods to rogue nations that could pose a threat to the national security.
"These regulations are certainly there for a purpose," he said. "Certainly, post 9/11, these regulations come more into focus."
He dismissed defense arguments that the prosecutions were selective and unfairly depicted civil violations as criminal acts. "Really, that's kind of a weak argument," he said. "The evidence really speaks for itself."
While it did not directly involve allege acts of terrorism, the InfoCom prosecution had drawn national attention because the indictments against the Elashi brothers were announced in December 2002 by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The three-man prosecution team included Barry Jonas, a senior trial attorney in the tax division of the Justice Department in Washington.
Mr. Jacks left no doubt that the government intends to pursue the additional charges alleging that InfoCom Corp. was used to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr. Marzook, a relative by marriage now believed to be living in Syria.
In the shipping trial, the government had accused the Elashi brothers of two dozen counts of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements to the government.
FBI and Commerce Department agents testified that the Elashis had routed seven illegal shipments of computers to Libya through Malta and Italy and made four direct shipments to Syria without the required licenses.
Federal agents also said InfoCom routinely misstated the value of shipments made to their customers in the Middle East to help them avoid paying customs duties.
Basman Elashi, the one-man shipping department of InfoCom, was convicted on all 23 counts brought against him. As the lone brother to testify, he had insisted that he did not believe that it was illegal to lie about the values of goods being shipped.
Ihsan Elashi, who handled all the sales of goods in the Libyan and Syrian shipments, was convicted on 15 counts and acquitted on eight others.
Bayan Elashi, the president and chief executive officer of InfoCom, was convicted on 12 counts, including three for conspiracy. He was acquitted on 11 other counts, several of them involving false values on shipping documents.
Hazim Elashi, the company's purchasing agent who also handled some sales of goods, was convicted on nine counts and acquitted on 11 others. He was singled out in testimony by a brother-in-law testifying for the government as knowing that a man InfoCom was shipping goods to in Rome was operating his business from Libya.
Ghassan Elashi, InfoCom's vice president of international marketing, was convicted of three counts of conspiracy, one county of money laundering and two counts of making false statements about shipments.
The prosecution of the Elashi brothers had angered some in the Dallas-area Muslim community. A defense fund was established to help pay their attorneys.
Iyas Maleh, president of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, declined immediate comment. Mr. Maleh said he and other representatives of the Muslim community were meeting to decide on a joint statement.
Several other acquaintances who had said the Elashi brothers were being unfairly targeted because of their Muslim faith also declined to comment Wednesday
One of the few who would speak was Mohammad Suleman, president of the board of trustees of the Islamic Association of North Texas, said his concern was for the family members of the convicted men.
He said the verdict could intensify feeling among some in the Muslim community that the trial was motivated by prejudice.
"There are people who have done worse things, so it's a kind of harsh treatment," he said. "Religion must have something to do with it."
Staff writer Gretel C. Kovach contributed to this report.
E-mail smcgonigle@dallasnews.com
HOLY LAND FOUNDATION AND INFOCOM'S HISTORY

January 1989: An organization, later renamed the Holy Land Foundation, is founded in California by Palestinian Muslims to assist Palestinians affected by the intifada, a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.
July 1992: Holy Land moves its headquarters to Richardson. Mousa Abu Marzook, a political leader of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, makes a $150,000 investment in InfoCom Corp., a Richardson company run by his wife's cousins.
March 1993: Mr. Marzook closes his account with InfoCom at the same time his wife, Nadia, signs an agreement to invest $250,000.
January 1995: Hamas is declared a terrorist organization by the United States.
July 1995: Mr. Marzook is detained by federal agents in New York. Officials discover records of his investment in InfoCom. He is declared a "specially designated terrorist" by the United States.
March 1996: Israel closes Holy Land's office in a Jerusalem suburb, alleging that it is raising money for Hamas.
March 1996: U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a sponsor of legislation that would outlaw domestic fund raising for foreign terrorist organizations, calls for a federal investigation into possible financial ties between Holy Land and Hamas.
August 1997: Mr. Marzook is deported to Jordan without being indicted.
December 1999: The State Department says that the government has been investigating allegations of financial ties between Holy Land and Hamas since at least 1996 and considered placing Holy Land on a list of foreign terrorist organizations.
Sept. 5, 2001: An FBI counterterrorism task force raids InfoCom Corp., an Internet services company across the street from Holy Land Foundation offices. The firm's assets are frozen. A federal grand jury later subpoenas records from Holy Land related to the InfoCom investigation. Ghassan Elashi, an InfoCom vice president, co-founded the Holy Land Foundation and serves as its board chairman. His brother, Bayan, the president and chief executive officer of InfoCom, is listed in Internet registry records as the contact for the foundation's Web site.
Dec. 4, 2001: President Bush, calling the Holy Land Foundation a front for Hamas, announces that the foundation's assets have been frozen and its offices closed. A spokesman for the foundation denies that it has any involvement with terrorist groups.
Feb. 7, 2002: Ihsan "Sammy" Elashyi, 41, one of Ghassan Elashi's brothers, is accused by federal authorities of making 12 shipments of computer goods to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan after the Commerce Department barred him in September 2001 from further international sales.
Oct. 22: Ihsan Elashyi is sentenced to 48 months in prison after pleading guilty to reduced charges stemming from an April indictment on export law violations, credit card fraud, money laundering and wire fraud.
Dec. 18: Federal authorities arrest Ghassan Elashi and three of his brothers on charges that they conspired to hide their financial dealings with Mr. Marzook. InfoCom, Mr. Marzook and his wife also are named in a 33-count federal indictment issued by a federal grand jury in Dallas.
Dec. 23: U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer rules that Ghassan Elashi, a U.S. citizen, should be freed without bail pending trial because he was not a flight risk. Three other Elashi brothers were ordered held on immigration charges.
Jan. 31, 2003: The five Elashi brothers, at an arraignment before Judge Buchmeyer, plead not guilty to all charges.
Wednesday: The brothers are found guilty of conspiring to use Infocom to make illegal shipments of high-tech goods to Libya and Syria.
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/070804dnmetelashi.e6d0.html

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