Ed Ahmad sings, sinks US Senator to shorten jail sentence

May 07, 2013 News

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…cooperated with FBI

In a closely watched case in the US and Guyana, Brooklyn’s State Senator, John Sampson, yesterday turned himself to the FBI, appearing in court hours later and pleading not guilty to two counts of embezzlement, five counts of obstructing justice and two counts of lying to agents.
Sampson, whose father is a Guyanese, was released on $250,000 secured bail bond.

However, it would be the details of the indictment filed by the US government and unsealed yesterday that highlighted the role that Guyana-born, New York-based businessman, Edul Ahmad, played in the FBI’s investigations that led to the charges.
According to the indictment, Ahmad who was referred to as the “Associate” and was not named, lent US$188,500 to Sampson, to repay US$440,000 the Senator had allegedly embezzled from a number of foreclosure sales he had handled. Newspapers reportedly identified the “Associate” as Ahmad. The Senator later promised to “take out” the witnesses in a major fraud case against Ahmad.
Ahmad is a well known Guyanese with a hardware outlet at the former Mirror newspaper in Industrial Site, Ruimveldt. He is also a prominent real estate operator in the Queens, New York area, well known to the Guyanese Diaspora there, until his arrest in July 2011 while he was boarding a Delta flight to Guyana.
In October last year, he pleaded guilty to one charge of intentionally conspiring to defraud several lending institutions, in a mortgage fraud scheme that lasted almost 15 years.
The United States Attorney’s office alleges that Ahmad was part of a scheme that defrauded American lending institutions of approximately US$50M, obtaining approval for mortgages on various properties by falsifying documents submitted to the lending institutions, using a string of straw buyers, and other illegal practices.
The inquiry focusing on Sampson’s campaign fund-raising stemmed from a broader federal probe into Queens Democratic Congressman, Gregory Meeks, who like Sampson took a loan from Ahmad but came under scrutiny from the feds for not reporting it.
Ahmad was said to be the common link that drew the feds from Meeks to Sampson. Meeks was cleared by a House Ethics Committee but the FBI probe is continuing.

Explosive indictment
According to the indictment yesterday, Ahmad was asked by Sampson to provide US$188,500 to cover his (Sampson) alleged embezzlement of funds from foreclosure sales he had handled. The indictment said that Sampson claimed he used the embezzled monies to cover his campaign for Kings County District Attorney in 2005 and he could be subjected to criminal prosecution if the monies are found missing.
The Senator said the money from Ahmad is a loan he would repay. “However, Sampson accepted this “loan” without written documentation of the transaction or a contemplated rate of interest, the indictment said.
Sampson never repaid these funds to Ahmad. Further, Sampson did not divulge the loan transaction in his Senate financial disclosure forms, as required.
However, it seemed that the Senator, one of the most powerful in the Queens area, panicked after the widely reported arrest of Ahmad in July 2011. He did not want knowledge of the embezzlement to come out.
“Shortly after the Associate was arrested, the defendant John Sampson began engaging in a scheme to obstruct justice, so as to prevent the Associate from cooperating with law enforcement authorities, and thereby prevent authorities from learning of Sampson’s criminal conduct.”
He reportedly told the Guyanese that he had a contact in the US Attorney’s Office.
Sampson in the indictment was also accused of asking Ahmad to lie about the details of the three checks totaling US$188,500 that was paid over to other persons but ended up in the hands of the Senator.

Witnesses dead?
During one meeting, the indictment said, the Senator told Ahmad that, if they were able to identify the witnesses in the mortgage fraud case against the Guyanese, “he could arrange to “take them out.” While there are not any details about these witnesses, there are indications that it could have involved Guyanese.
Sampson was unaware that his phones were being tapped by the FBI.
In April 2012, law enforcement authorities went to the office of the employee who Sampson had claimed was his contact at the US Attorney Office. They found an incriminating list of the names of the witnesses against Ahmad. The employee was then suspended and subsequently terminated from his employment at the USAO.

According to the indictment, the Senator met on February 22, 2012 with Ahmad at a restaurant in Queens, New York. Ahmad was cooperating with the FBI investigators and meeting was being monitored, the indictment suggested.
There, the Senator attempted to persuade Ahmad not give the feds the records of the checks he had issued.
“Don’t say you don’t have it. Just say you don’t know. I don’t want you to lie, just say you don’t know.”
He even asked Ahmad to remove certain records to make it appear as though the records were incomplete and lie to investigators about the loan if it ever came up.
FBI agents claimed that they confronted Sampson outside his home about the loan but he was evasive on that and on asking an employee in the US Attorney Office for information about the witnesses in Ahmad’s mortgage case.
Yesterday, in court, US Prosecutor, Alexander Solomon, revealed that the Senator was offered a plea deal which expires May 31. Under that deal, he would plead guilty to one count each of embezzlement and obstruction of justice, and face up to 46 months in prison.
Monday’s charges follow the revelation last week that Sampson was secretly recorded by a former colleague, former State Senator Shirley Huntley (D-Queens), who has pleaded guilty to stealing from a non-profit organization she controlled.
Sampson was a member of the New York State Senate representing the 19th Senate District in southeastern Brooklyn. From June 2009 to December 2012, he was also the leader of the Democratic Conference of the Senate. From January 2011 to December 2012, Sampson was also the Minority Leader of the Senate.
Since 1992, the Senator was an attorney licensed to practise law in the State of New York. His law practice included, among other things, criminal defence work and legal work involving the sale of foreclosed properties.
Meanwhile, in a further blow to his latest troubles, Senate Democratic Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, announced that Sampson has been stripped of his assignations.
“These allegations are deeply disturbing,” Stewart-Cousins said yesterday. “The alleged activity represents an offence violation of the public trust for which there is no place in government. Sen. Sampson has been stripped of his ranking positions and all committee assignments.”

 

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