Posted on 07/23/2002 12:42:23 PM PDT by The Energizer
Man indicted on phony check charge
DETROIT (AP) A man arrested for allegedly carrying $12 million in phony cashiers checks was indicted Tuesday, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Omar Shishani is charged with knowingly making or possessing a forged security. He was arrested last week after he arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Indonesia. Officials say they found nine cashiers checks, believed to be forged, during a search of Shishani's bags.
A U.S. law enforcement official also has said the FBI is investigating whether Shishani has ties to terrorist organizations, but his name is not on the terrorist watch list created by U.S. intelligence agencies.
Shishani has been in custody since his arrest last week. He was to appear in court on Wednesday for a detention hearing.
Two of the checks found were for $5 million each; two were for $500,000 each; and five were for $200,000 each, an affidavit said. The checks, labeled ``cashier check,'' were purportedly issued by the Pomona, Calif., branch of West America Bank.
A fraud investigator for the bank said there was no Pomona branch and the checks were labeled incorrectly, Special Agent Clarence T. Laster of the U.S. Secret Service said in the affidavit. The bank's authentic checks are labeled ``official check.''
Several people have been arrested in the Las Vegas area for passing similar checks, Laster said.
Authorities have searched Shishani's home, but the results of the search are sealed.
Shishani said at a hearing last week that he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and a salesman who hasn't earned any commissions this year. He said his wife is a resident alien from Japan.
Shishani moved to Michigan from California in the mid-1990s.
I'm curious about these attempted transactions. Is there any information about who tried to pass off such large checks and, more importantly, to whom?
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