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Posted on 10/07/2003 9:41:43 PM PDT by mafree
(12 who gained fraudulent access still in country, 7 can't be found, FBI says)
The former director of a festival celebrating Arab culture used his position to help nearly two dozen Jordanians enter the country illegally from 2000 to 2002, federal authorities charged Tuesday.
Fraud Charges
Quotable
We're aggressively trying to find these people.
- David Mitchell, FBI agent, discussing Jordanians who may be in the U.S. illegally.
Since we are the Arab festival and this will be in the paper, they're going to say that all the Arabs are the same. That's what we're concerned about. That people will judge us by one person and one action.
- Joseph Makhlouf, Arab American Community of Wisconsin Inc
Twelve of the people who came to the United States on fraudulent visitor visas remain in the country. Five live in the Milwaukee area and seven cannot be located, said David Mitchell, special agent in charge of the local FBI office.
"We're aggressively trying to find these people," Mitchell said during a news conference detailing the charges.
Authorities have no evidence to suggest that the Jordanians who came to the U.S. illegally have been involved in terrorist activity, Mitchell said. Those found to be in the U.S. illegally will be deported, he said.
The man indicted Tuesday, restaurant owner Mhammad Abu-Shawish, remains in federal custody without bail. He was arrested Friday when authorities searched his home and business, Sultan's Family Restaurant, 3800 W. National Ave. The business was closed Tuesday.
In addition to charges of conspiracy and visa fraud, Abu-Shawish, 40, was indicted on two charges related to the alleged misuse of $75,000 in federal block grant money he obtained from the city in 2001 and 2002. He faces a maximum 25 years in prison and $500,000 fine for the federal offenses.
His attorney, Christopher Lowe, did not return a phone call seeking comment on the charges.
Festival fears backlash The arrest warrant released Tuesday details Abu-Shawish's alleged scam to help Jordanians obtain temporary business and pleasure visas, purportedly to attend the Arabian festival he founded in 1998. This year, a new organization, the Arab American Community of Wisconsin Inc., ran the festival and changed its name to Arab World Fest.
The organization issued a statement Tuesday distancing itself from Abu-Shawish, who had served on its board of directors. He was removed from the board Oct. 1 because he failed to actively assist the new group, said Joseph Makhlouf, board member and spokesman for the group.
Makhlouf said he feared the charges against Abu-Shawish would result in another backlash against Arab-Americans, similar to the scrutiny and criticism that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
"Since we are the Arab festival and this will be in the paper, they're going to say that all the Arabs are the same," Makhlouf said. "That's what we're concerned about. That people will judge us by one person and one action."
Starting in 1998, Abu-Shawish served as president and executive director of the Arabian Fest Arab American Festival Inc. He used the organization's letterhead to prepare "formal letters of invitation," which the Jordanians then presented to the U.S. Embassy in Jordan to obtain temporary travel visas, according to the arrest warrant.
An informant told federal agents that Abu-Shawish charged $10,000 for such a letter.
Earlier this year, Abu-Shawish told an informant working for authorities that he received $1,000 for the letters of invitation and had contacts at U.S. diplomatic missions in the Middle East, the arrest warrant states.
Twenty-three Jordanian residents, including Abu-Shawish's four brothers and his ex-wife, allegedly used the letters to obtain temporary visas and travel to the United States. In numerous instances, the letters helped the Jordanians obtain visas after their previous applications had been denied.
One of the Jordanians told agents with the federal Diplomatic Security Service that he had "long desired" to immigrate to the U.S. to work and improve his standard of living, but his visa application was turned down when he visited the embassy on Oct. 6, 2002.
He then contacted a middleman with ties to Abu-Shawish, obtained a letter of invitation and was granted a visa on Oct. 30, 2002, according to the arrest warrant.
The Arabian festival at Maier Festival Park was held that year from Sept. 13 to 15, six weeks before the Jordanian received his visa to attend the event.
The arrest warrant details further discrepancies between the letters of invitation and the actual Arabian festival. Several Jordanians who received letters to attend the 2001 festival left Jordan days after the festival had been canceled because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
And one of Abu-Shawish's brothers received a temporary travel visa on Dec. 17, 2000, three months after the 2000 Arabian festival.
Records reviewed by federal agents also found problems with Abu-Shawish's pledge to pay travel and lodging expenses for the Jordanian visitors. The 2001 Arabian Fest budget, submitted to the city block grant office, lists $300 budgeted for travel expenses for the entire festival.
The investigation into the alleged visa scam began in August 2002, based on information from a confidential source, according to the arrest warrant. Later that year, agents with the Diplomatic Security Service received a letter that detailed Abu-Shawish's operation.
Block grant money The allegations involving federal block grant money surround a $75,000 grant, approved by the Common Council in 2001, to Abu-Shawish and Arabian Fest to complete a development plan for Muskego Ave. on the city's south side.
Abu-Shawish submitted documentation to the block grant office showing that he and two other employees had worked on the proposal. But the report they filed, according to authorities, was a plagiarized copy of one previously completed by someone else.
That person, who is not named in the documentation, was paid $25,000 to do the project, though it was not directly paid from block grant money. The original report apparently was not requested by the city, nor was it on file with the block grant office or Department of City Development.
Steve Mahan, head of the block grant office, said that meant there were no red flags for his staff once the allegedly copied development plan was submitted.
"The planning department didn't have it," he said. "Nobody had it. We got what we paid for. But, as it turns out, the document was plagiarized. If it was already created, then what did we pay for?"
The 20-page document talks about the need to improve the appearance of retail buildings, clean up litter and graffiti and develop a plan for the stretch of the street from W. Greenfield Ave. to W. Forest Home Ave.
Mahan said such reports typically are the first step before groups seek more money, for instance for planters, streetlight improvements or building facades.
The indictment also alleges that Abu-Shawish paid himself $6,000 from the federal grant funds, but that there was no justification for the payment.
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