Role of benevolent jewel dealer puzzles neighbors in New York
In his fancy Queens neighborhood, Yehuda H. Abraham is known as a kindly benefactor of his synagogue and world-traveling gem importer. The family business he co-founded in 1955 boasts of sales to royalty, heads of state, and a "highly discerning clientele in Saudi Arabia."
Along the chic, narrow streets of Hendon, in northern London, Hemant Lakhani is recalled as the owner of an empty million-dollar house.
In his temporary cell at the Passaic County Jail, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed remains a mystery: That he came from Malaysia three days ago is certain. Beyond that detail, nothing.
Prosecutors say they can prove that Lakhani, 68, a British citizen, was a "significant international arms dealer." They say they have evidence that Abraham, 76, and Hameed, whose age is unknown, were money launderers.
Lakhani's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Donald J. McCauley, declined to comment about his client after an appearance in federal court in Newark on Wednesday.
Hameed's lawyer, Cathy Fleming, said her client insists he did nothing wrong. Both men were being held without bond pending a bail hearing next week.
Abraham was accompanied in federal court in New York by his four children, a rabbi, and other supporters. His lawyer, Larry Krantz, said the charge does not specify that Abraham - who was arrested with Hameed at a Fifth Avenue gem dealership - knew he was involved in a terrorist plot. Bail was set at $10 million.
In his Forest Hills, Queens, neighborhood Wednesday, those who know Abraham said the scenario seemed all wrong. Nothing about the man, they said, suggested a plot to unleash a Russian-made missile, called an SA-18 Igla, on a nation of travelers still jittery about flying well after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
No one answered the door to the grand brick two-story home at Ingram Street and 70th Avenue. The house, set on a corner property with a lush lawn and 6-foot hedges, is the finest on the block. Those who have seen the interior say it is outfitted with marble.
On the doorpost was a mezuza, a small case of parchment etched with biblical scripture that is often displayed outside Jewish homes.
Neighbor Bernie Roseman was among the half-dozen people who said Abraham was a good man, a benefactor of his synagogue who was kind enough to donate its torah.
"Unless the guy is out of his mind he couldn't have known what this [alleged plot] was all about," Roseman said. "I can't envision somebody who would donate a torah to be involved with terrorism."
Sylvia Hanna, a next-door neighbor of the Abrahams for 15 years, said she was not particularly social with the couple, nor did she see "anything to raise eyebrows."
"I didn't see them for months at a time," Hanna said. "The wife would tell me that they went to Thailand on business."
She added: "Why anyone who is Jewish would be mixed up with something like this is beyond me. But I'm an optimist. I think he'll be vindicated."
A business filing compiled by Dun & Bradstreet shows Abraham has been in the gem business since at least 1955, when he incorporated Ambuy International Corp. with an individual named Mayer Abraham.
The filing does not disclose the relationship, if any, between the Ambuy founders. A history of the company updated last month says Ambuy "wholesales jewelry or precious stones, specializing in jewelry and diamonds."
According to the filing, Ambuy employs 10 people, including Gideon Abraham - the son of Yehuda Abraham - as president. Ambuy sells to wholesalers and distributors in "local" territory, the document says, and rents 2,000 square feet of office space.
In the New York City diamond district Wednesday afternoon, many jewelers said Yehuda Abraham was a respected figure.
"As far as I know he was always full of integrity and honesty. I enjoyed dealing with him," said Steve, a 50-year-old man who declined to give his last name. On Tuesday, he said, police arrived at the Ambuy offices, 580 Fifth Ave. at 47th Street.
"I am in shock," he said. "I couldn't believe it."
No one answered the phone listed to Ambuy on Wednesday. On www.ambuy.com, a Web site riddled with spelling and punctuation errors, the company says it has jewelry designers in Europe and the United States and locations in New York, Antwerp, Milan, Bangkok, and Jiddah, which is in Saudi Arabia.
The site shows breathtaking precious stones, including a necklace set with 23.25 carats in emeralds and 61.60 carats in diamonds.
"We have sold to 7 Heads of State and Royal Families and our exquisite jewelry is much sought after by the affluent of the world," the site boasts. "Our store, New York Jewels in Jiddah located in the prestigious Sheraton Hotel has recently opened with the purpose of providing our highly discerning clientele in Saudi Arabia with the finest and most extravagant jewelry."
Gideon Abraham did not respond to an e-mail from The Record, and a phone message left at his home - a ninth-floor apartment at 257 Central Park West - was not returned.
Gideon Abraham's mother-in-law, a former Edgewater resident named Ann V. Karas, had little to say about Yehuda Abraham.
"I only know him as a nice man," Karas said from her home in East Hampton, N.Y. "We are related through marriage, distantly."
Yehuda Abraham is charged with conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He is believed to have handled a $30,000 payment on behalf of Lakhani, the British citizen, and have sent it to overseas accounts registered to Lakhani.
In England, police were continuing their investigation at two London locations, including Lakhani's house. He was arrested Tuesday night at a hotel near Newark Liberty International Airport and charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to terrorists and acting as an arms broker without a license.
On Wednesday a police officer stood guard at the door of Lakhani's two-story home in the exclusive north London neighborhood of Hendon, The Associated Press reported. Scratches appeared to be signs of where police had forced the lock, and the door had been secured again with two large padlocks.
A 15-year-old BMW sat in the driveway, and curtains were drawn in the windows of the duplex house. Neighbors told The Guardian newspaper that Lakhani was a textile dealer who had listed his home on the real estate market for $1.125 million.
August 13, 2003
Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
NEWARK, N.J. - A British arms dealer appeared in U.S. District Court today, on charges that he tried to complete the sale of a shoulder-fired missile, with the understanding that it was going to be used to shoot down an American commercial airliner, the U.S. Attorney's Office and Justice Department announced today.
Two other defendants were arrested. Both of them helped in a planned money transfer that was part of the transaction. One of those two individuals arrived in the U.S. to allegedly arrange for a $500,000 downpayment from a government cooperating witness for 50 more shoulder-fired missiles.
U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of the District in New Jersey and FBI Director Robert Mueller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in Washington, announced the filing of a criminal complaint charging Hemant Lakhani with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to sell arms without a license. Lakhani, 68, of London, England, flew from London to John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday and was arrested yesterday by Special Agents of the FBI/Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force, as he was meeting with a government cooperating witness to complete the sale of a single shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile.
A criminal complaint against Lakhani filed under seal on Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark alleges that Lakhani went to New Jersey to arrange for the sale of at least another 50 anti-aircraft missiles to the cooperating witness, who was posing as a representative of a Somali terror organization.
Separate criminal complaints were filed against Yehuda Abraham,76, a New York City jeweler and money remitter, and Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed of Malaysia. Hameed arrived from Malaysia yesterday allegedly as part of the planned sale of another 50 missiles. Hameed was to collect an initial payment of $500,000 from the government cooperating witness, according to the complaint. Both men are charged with conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Lakhani, a British national born in India, and Hameed, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark. At the government's request, Judge Wigenton continued the initial appearance for several days, during which the defendants will remain in federal custody. The third defendant, Abraham, was expected to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sometime today.
U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft said the investigation, which began in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America, also involved law enforcement authorities in the Russian Federation, who infiltrated Lakhani's pipeline to a weapons supplier.
"This investigation shows that all agencies of the federal government and our international allies will work together tirelessly to keep innocent people safe," said Ashcroft. "America is vigilant against danger. Justice will be done."
"This was deadly serious business," said Christie. "Without the very effective intervention of the FBI - Newark, the Joint Terrorism Task Force composed of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners and the indispensable help of the Russian FSB, Lakhani might well have paved the way for others do unimaginable damage."
According to the criminal complaint, contact between Lakhani and the cooperating witness began in December 2001, with most of the conversations spoken in Urdu or Hindi. The following month, after the cooperating witness said he wanted to purchase one surface-to-air missile initially and more to follow, Lakhani represented to the cooperating witness that he could export weapons from sources in the former Soviet Union. At a meeting between the two in New Jersey, Lakhani provided a military arms brochure and business cards from individuals with whom he had connections.
The complaint states that during a video- and audio-taped meeting at a hotel overlooking Newark Airport in September 2002, Lakhani and the cooperating witness looked out and gestured at departing commercial aircraft. Lakhani allegedly said he understood the purpose of the sale was to shoot down an aircraft and cause economic harm to the United States - to "make one explosion ... to shake the economy."
Among the more than 150 other audio- or video-taped conversations during the investigation, Lakhani allegedly spoke approvingly of Usama bin Laden, saying bin Laden "straightened them all out" and "did a good thing." And, in a another conversation, Lakhani was recorded saying, "The Americans are bastards."
As stated in the complaint, the discussions continued about importation of the missile, and on Aug. 17, 2002, Lakhani said he understood that the buyer of the missile had wanted it for "the anniversary" - a reference to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America. Three days later, Lakhani allegedly faxed the cooperating witness a document listing the price for an "Igla-S portable anti-aircraft missile complex," including a price breakdown between the missile and its launcher. In more recorded conversations during August 2002, Lakhani allegedly said the supplier was concerned that the deal for just one missile was "too risky," and that he had committed to the supplier that there would be a purchase of at least an additional 20 missiles.
The complaint further alleges that on or about July 12, 2003, Lakhani traveled to Moscow to meet with the suppliers and the government's cooperating witness. At a meeting two days later, Lakhani met with the witness and two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), posing as the suppliers. The FSB officers showed Lakhani what appeared to be an actual surface-to-air missile, which was actually an unarmed replica. In subsequent meetings, Lakhani allegedly discussed payment arrangements and his desire to arrange a deal for the purchase of an additional 50 surface-to-air missiles.
The complaint alleges that during a July 18, 2003, recorded meeting, Lakhani provided to the FSB officers a document on corporate letterhead, stating that the company had authorized its foreign bank to release the payment of $70,000 to the account specified by the FSB officers.
Representatives of the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Control have advised that the surface-to-air missiles at issue in this case - a Russian-manufactured Igla-S portable anti-aircraft missile complex - are "foreign defense articles" subject to their regulatory authority. Lakhani is neither registered with the DTCT nor licensed to engage in the business of importing or transferring any defense articles.
Criminal charges were also filed against Yehuda Abraham, the owner of Ambuy Gem Corp. in New York City, for allegedly helping to arrange the delivery of a $30,000 down payment between the cooperating witness and Lakhani. Abraham, 75, of New York, who also owns a money remittance business, was arrested today and charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Maximum penalties for the defendants:
Lakhani: providing material support to terrorists, 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; selling arms without a license, 10 years and a $1 million fine. Abraham and Hameed: conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, five years and a $250,000 fine.
The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Clark and Brian R. Howe. The international investigation that led to today's charges was assisted by law enforcement authorities in Russia, and is the product of New Jersey's Joint Terrorism Task Force, particularly agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service at the Department of Homeland Security, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.