Posted on 04/19/2005 10:50:40 PM PDT by Nick Danger
WASHINGTON Federal authorities today announced a Virginia man has been indicted for illegally wiring millions of dollars to Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Middle East regions.The indictment was filed in U-S district court in Alexandria, Virginia.
It says Afghan native and U-S citizen Rahim Bariek (RAH-heem BAY-ri-ek)allegedly wired over four-point-nine (m) million dollars from Bariek Money Transfer in Herndon, Virginia, without proper licenses.
Officials say between November 2001 and August 2003, Bariek deposited funds from worldwide customers. They say he took a fee and transferred the funds to individuals designated by his customers in the Middle East.
Authorities say at least some of the money was sent during Taliban rule.
*Sigh* Now what are the democrats doing?
US Citizen or not send him to Guantanamo.
Seems the "Great Satan" is also the "Great Provider."
I'm glad they caught him at the 4.9 million mark.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
That's about $6,700 a day, every day, 7 days a week.
I am not in a hurry to convict anyone of carrying money. Our Government wants us all to open our wallets and show our money. This has little to do with terrorism, but lots to do with control, taxation and revenue.
This is getting quite ridiculous. In Connecticut some years ago, they arrested two car salesmen for selling cars for cash.
Excuse me, but on my banknotes, it does say "legal tender". These two poor souls got JAIL TIME for selling two cars to people who turned out to be drug dealers. Our wise government decided that they should have known that these guys were drug dealers and not sold them cars. What about the guy at the 7/11 who sold them shaving cream? Where do we draw the line?
Maybe this guy did send some money for some nasty guys, but cracking down on everyone who handles cash is not the way to fight terrorism.
Ping
I wouldn't judge this guy on the money transfer business alone, because its a legal and sometimes necessary means of moving money around the globe. If he violated his reporting requirements (which I believe are triggered at $800 per transfer these days), that's another story.
As an example, the Vietnamese/American community sent an estimated $2 BILLION back to their families prior to Tet (New Year) 2003. That's for Tet only, and doesn't include the remainder of the year.
Just like Afghanistan and Vietnam, much of the global remittance business is due to poor or nonexistant banking services in the destination countries. Even in the U.S. its a huge and overpriced hassle to issue a wire transfer.
Whereas I know for a fact that a sub-$1,000 transfer from Virginia to Vietnam can be delivered to the recipient in 24 to 72 hours, in local or U.S. currency or even (for larger but still legal transfers) in 24K gold bars. That's delivery to the recipient's doorstep, with a signed receipt faxed back to the sender in the U.S. that very same day. Sometimes (but not often) the whole process happens in less than 24 hours, round trip. That's faster than the setup and delivery for a normal wire transfer.
Hmmm. One needs a license to transfer money? Quite a few companies transfer a lot more than $5 million over a 21 month period, but I don't think that most of them have a "license" to do so. I think the reader would have been better served if this AP reporter had specified exactly which laws and what violations of those laws were being reported.
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