Posted on 02/01/2002 4:22:13 AM PST by ValerieUSA
Federal agents yesterday raided the home and business of an Iraqi American man who has claimed that Bank of America discriminated against him by trying to close his account because of post-Sept. 11 terrorist concerns.
Hussain Alshafei of Edmonds settled with the bank Wednesday. In a twist surely unforeseen by Alshafei, however, the publicized filing of the federal civil rights suit also sparked an investigation by the U.S. Customs Service, which searched his home and Mountlake Terrace wire-transfer business yesterday.
Authorities claim that by wiring more than $14 million in two of the past three years to Jordan and other countries -- money that mostly ended up in Iraq -- Alshafei violated the Iraqi Sanctions Act and other laws implemented a decade ago prohibiting any money transfers to that country's government or its people.
"We don't get many people confessing in court and in the news that they violated the law," said Rodney Tureaud, head of the Customs Service's investigations office in Seattle.
Tureaud said the raid was part of "Operation Greenquest," the government's ongoing effort aimed at freezing the assets of groups and individuals supporting terrorist activities after the attacks Sept. 11.
But unlike the Somali wire transfer businesses shut down in Seattle and around the country in November for alleged links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, Alshafei was not being targeted for terrorist ties, Tureaud said. Nor has he been arrested.
Alshafei, 34, could not be reached for comment at his home or business. His lawyer, Seattle attorney Jon Rosen, declined to comment.
The search warrants executed on Alshefei's business, called Alshafei Family Connect, resulted in customs agents' taking more than a dozen boxes of materials from his second-floor office in a small office complex called Terrace Village, three witnesses said. Agents collected items from his office for more than two hours, they said.
According to the search warrant request signed Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Monica Benton, agents were specifically looking for computers, software, fax machines and paperwork detailing the business.
Alshafei opened AFC more than three years ago, he said in a Jan. 9 declaration in his civil rights suit. For a small fee, Iraqi emigres could send money to family members back home.
Alshafei is a political refugee from Iraq who fled Saddam Hussein's dictatorship in 1994, and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
In the Jan. 9 declaration, Alshafei recognized the potential political, and legal, stickiness his business was in, by admitting that "it is not possible to send the money directly to Iraq because of the trade embargo. In addition, Saddam Hussein's regime would likely persecute Iraqis who are receiving money from relatives in the United States."
Alshafei said that he opened his business in large part because he and many other Americans had relatives in Iraq who were destitute and politically repressed, and who relied on the money "simply to survive."
According to customs officials, AFC made 344 wire transfers in 1999 and 2000, totaling $14.6 million. Of that amount, $6.9 million was sent in 112 transfers to banks in Jordan, which borders Iraq.
An AFC agent would go to a Jordanian bank, as well as others in the United Arab Emirates and in Europe, to pick up the money, according to Alshafei, and then distribute it to the customers' families.
But laws passed a little over a decade ago during the Gulf War may have made it illegal to do this. According to an executive order signed in 1990 by then-President Bush, Americans are prohibited from transferring, "directly or indirectly, funds or other financial or economic resources to the Government of Iraq or any persons in Iraq."
The suit against Bank of America was settled with the proviso that although the account may accept deposits and remain open until March 25, Alshafei may not make any wire transfers from the account.
Another textbook example of the laws of a free society being subverted to it's own destructon.
The infamous free-society "suicide pact".
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b71b20b06f1.htm
CNN said the three men suspects had stopped to ask an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer for directions Wednesday, and the officer was suspicious enough to write down their car's license plate number. The license number was registered to a rental car -- a car other than what the men were driving, the network said.
In New York, a law enforcement source told The Associated Press that one of the three, Asad R. Siddiqy of New York, was a suspect in the bombing. Siddiqy is a cab driver in the borough of Queens.
CNN said Siddiqy was arrested in Dallas, along with Mohammed Chafi. The network said a brother of Siddiqy was arrested in Oklahoma.
The prefix Al- is common, for example Al-Hussaini, the former Iraqi Republican Guard and McVeigh accomplice.
Could Alshafei be an Americanized version of Al-Shafei. I know an alternative spelling of Chafi is Shafi, giving us Al-Chafi. Just a thought. I am curious to know the whereabouts and country of origin of the Chafi detained in the OKC bombing case
Why are US Government Agencies Importing and Protecting Suspected Middle Eastern Terrorists
This thread is an excellent summary of the work done by Jayna Davis and includes details about what happened to the ownership of the TV station where she worked.
I sure wish I had relatives in some other country concerned about sending me enough "just to survive".
This groundbreaking book, written by one of the founders of the four schools of thought, presents a complete systemization of applied Islamic law that still has relevance today
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I post this to suggest Al-Shafi as a possible alternative spelling for Alshafei for anyone researching this guy. Chafi is an alternative spelling for Shafi.
Iraqi Military Officers in OKC and Lincoln
Maybe Alshafei was one of this bunch?
As made known to the CIA, were the following, among other details: That George Herbert Walker Bush, as President, at the close of the Persian Gulf War, 1991, arranged to bring into the U.S. some four thousand Iraqi military officers, some from intelligence units, and their families. Some 550 of these officers became residents in Lincoln, Nebraska, AND TWO THOUSAND OF THEM took up residence in Oklahoma City. In a watered down story, CBS' "60 Minutes" Program did a segment once on this about Lincoln, Nebraska but said NOTHING about the Iraqi military officers in Oklahoma City. The financial and other provisions for them and their families were arranged by the Elder Bush, and then quietly continued by Bill Clinton as President, and perpetuated by George W. Bush as White House "resident" and "occupant". The arrangements included financial subsidies, housing, and employment for the Iraqi officers
mistakes and misspellings would be understandable considering the anglo clerk doesn't really know the difference between el and al, etc.
the arab applicant doesn't know the difference between shafish and chafish or el or al either. because they don't know the english alphabet and says the improper spelling is o.k.
Yeah.
And those poor Iraquis that picked up those funds in Jordan had to smuggle them into Iran. It is inconceivable that word didn't get out that some poor schlep Iraqui, with $61K cash in his pocket, is gonna be sneakin' back over the border. Those cutthroats over there would have done him in for sure. Unless, of course, they're all in this together - which they are. Al-Qaeda.
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