Feds Raid Orlando Businesses; Arrest 5 For Illegal Immigration And Money Laundering (Florida)

WKMG Orlando ^ | November 14, 2002

[Shermy]

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Federal agents raided businesses in Orange and Osceola counties Thursday and arrested several people suspected of taking part in an illegal immigration and money laundering operation, according to Local 6 News.

Central Florida Organized Crime Task Force agents conducted search warrants Thursday morning at several businesses along International Drive and U.S. Highway 192. Five people and six businesses were indicted on 53 counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to reside in the United States, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Jesse I. Maali, 57, of Isleworth, and M. Saleen Khanani, 51, who own numerous businesses in Central Florida were among those arrested in the raids, Local 6 News reported.

Maali and Khanani are accused of illegally soliciting foreign nationals from the Middle East to come to Orlando to work for them. They are also accused of helping the workers at their businesses elude the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

According to an indictment, a scheme was allegedly devised to hide payments to those aliens and to disguise them as legitimate business transactions, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Maali and Khanani are accused of hiring as many as 53 foreign nationals at Big Bargain World shops. Central Florida businesses also named in the investigation included Jeans Unlimited, Denim Unlimited, Barakat Corp. and Barakat International.

Maali and Khanani were indicted along with three other men by a federal grand jury.

Both face up to 20 years in federal prison and fines of $500,000 if convicted of money laudering and violating immigration laws, according to the the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Sky 6 filmed police raiding one of the suspect's homes (pictured, right) in the Isleworth community Thursday afternoon.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this breaking news story.

[Shermy]

Florida.

[blam]

Bravo!

[Shermy]

A bit more here.

[tall_tex]

...owns numerous businesses...

Any takers on a bet these are convience stores. Looks like they would be an ideal business to launder cash.

Most all of these stores in Austin are owned by ME types.

[Clovis_Skeptic]

This Barkat International is on the "hit list" already, of org suspected of supporting terrorism.

[Catspaw]

I thought Barakat was familiar, although I've seen it spelled "Barakaat" (or something like that--there's a double "a" in there somewhere). I though it was the (brain don't fail me now) the companies where someone would give them money & at the other end (an Islamic or Arab country) someone at the other end would pay out cash to the person the money was intended for. They used this method to launder money from the US (and other Western countries) into the hands of radical Islamics.

[janetgreen]

Most all of these stores in Austin are owned by ME types.

Ditto in southern California. You have to search to find one that isn't.

[Mamzelle]

Check out your local submarine sandwich shops, too. Fast food franchises and hotel franchises are another attraction. Think about how easy it would be to filter in illegals, mostly young men, with little notice? Fast food and hotels. Takes a lot of upfront money to open up these brandname businesses.

[Grampa Dave]

Good find and thanks for the ping.

Looks like our intel analysis has been very busy the past couple of months.

These strikes against these businesses and their owners really hurt the Islamofacists. These are money raising and money laundering businesses for the Islamofascists.

They provide employment for their new recruits in key areas in America. This enables them to blend into society and appear to be just a hard working Mohammud, instead of the Jihads they really are.

They serve as communication centers to relay messages and info from around the nation and the world. Their computer sites will be a gold mine for our intel people.