Posted on 02/03/2006 11:10:04 AM PST by LouAvul
NEW YORK (AP) - An ice cream shop owner from Yemen was sentenced to 15 1/2 years in prison Friday for illegally funneling nearly $22 million overseas in a case stemming from a major terrorism investigation.
Abad Elfgeeh, 51, was convicted last year of running an illegal money-transmitting business and structuring bank deposits to avoid reporting laws. Prosecutors alleged that at the behest of a radical Yemeni sheik, he sent money around the world from bank accounts linked to his tiny storefront in Brooklyn.
Before being sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson, the defendant - a naturalized U.S. citizen - insisted he was a loyal American who didn't realize he was breaking the law by helping fellow immigrants transfer money to relatives in their homeland.
"While it is true that I am an active member of the Yemeni community in this city, and I am a Muslim, these affiliations have not interfered with my pledge of allegiance to this country," he said, reading from a prepared statement.
In court papers, prosecutors had accused Elfgeeh's lawyers of "grossly mischaracterizing the defendant as a naive, innocent pawn who had no idea that what he was doing was wrong."
The defendant "participated in this scheme day after day, over a period of years," prosecutors added.
snip.....
The judge ordered Elfgeeh to pay a $1.5 million fine. He also will be forced to forfeit more than $22 million, which would empty his frozen bank accounts.
(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
That must be some fine and delicious ice cream.
Ben and Jerry are probably taking up the slack.
Is this like being charged with driving below the speed limit to avoid speeding laws?
Pun intended.
You just have to love "how-much-money-you-got" justice...
Its made from the finest goat milk in two flavors or a combination of the two. Olives or dates.
I think it is more like driving just under the speed limit so you do not alert a traffic cop and get stopped after just robbing a bank.
They need to leave money laundering money transfers up to the professionals.
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But should it be a crime?
Boy, that ice cream business really pays off.
He should be executed as a traitor.
Robbing the bank, yes. Driving slightly under the speed limit, no.
Believe it or not I have actually spent money in this man's store--he ran a Carvel ice cream store on 7th Avenue and 3rd Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn--I once bought my daughter a birthday cake there--couple this with the fact that I used to see the Blind Sheik walking in Brooklyn Heights (who can forget the Santa Clause hat?) just off Atlantic Avenue before he was arrested and that Mohammed Atta's mosque is not far from my house and you can imagine how creepy it can sometimes feel in Brooklyn knowing that so many of our country's enemies have been hiding in plain sight for decades.
More like driving a stealthed vehicle in order to avoid being caught speeding. Banks must report transactions above a certain level, in order to be able to track the worst violators, but the transfers themselves are not legal unless reported, and then it depends on who the money is transferred to.
Goat milk, that's fine. Dates in ice cream, probably OK.. but Olives? Yuk. Although my wife might like it if they are green olives. :) Date and olive? Hurl!
Correction--the NY Post ran a story on this man today and his store was in Park Slope but it was called Carnival not Carvel--I've never been in his store...don't even know where in Park Slope it is...sorry for my error.
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