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Posted on 03/22/2003 12:48:45 AM PST by sarcasm
Saturday, March 22, 2003 - Two Iraqi brothers have been arrested and charged on suspicion of sending more than $7 million from Denver to Iraq through an unlicensed money transmitting business.
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Their arrests followed a lengthy investigation by the FBI's Denver- based Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The arrest of the brothers, who live in Denver, came a day after the Indiana Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Mazin Al Saeed, of Elkhart, Ind. Al Saeed told investigators that he sent the Denver- based brothers money to be sent to Iraq.
The brothers wired $240,000 in 2001, $5,953,693 in 2002 and $823,067 so far in 2003, according to an arrest affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
Federal officials did not say what they thought the money was being used for in Iraq.
But A.J. Gehring, a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service, said in court documents that unlicensed money transmittal businesses are often involved in laundering the proceeds of unlawful activities. They often use foreign bank accounts, which, unlike domestic bank accounts, aren't required to report interest income to the IRS, Gehring said.
For the past 16 months, Gehring has been assigned to the Green Quest Task Force. The task force is a U.S. Treasury-hosted, multiagency initiative that targets sources of funding for terrorist organizations.
U.S. Attorney John Suthers said the arrests came at a critical time.
"Given our concerns about financing of terrorist organizations and state-sponsored terrorism, it is more important than ever that we vigorously enforce our nation's laws relating to transfers of funds," Suthers said. "This is particularly true in a time when we are at war with Iraq."
Maitham Al Samar has a business known as Alrafden Transactions and, according to the Colorado Department of Labor, received wages totaling $27,441 in 2001 and $6,039 in 2002.
Qassim Al Samar owns a tobacco store called Wholly Smokes.
According to the arrest affidavit, Maitham Al Samar utilized bank accounts in Denver to wire transfer the funds. Investigators said a review of the wire transfers showed that a majority of them were made through Alrafden Transactions.
Authorities alleged that the Bank Secrecy Act requires certain money service businesses to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a part of the U.S. Treasury Department. The businesses are also required to prepare and maintain a list of agents.
Neither brother, nor their businesses, were registered, according to investigators.
"These arrests reflect our combined efforts to identify alternative banking systems that can be used to hide suspicious financial transactions," said James D. Vickery, special agent in charge of IRS criminal investigations in Denver.
"Thanks to the cooperative efforts of federal agents and officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Colorado and Indiana, we have been able to identify sources of money going into Iraq," he said. "We have stopped the flow of these funds to Iraq during this critical period."
If convicted, both face up to five years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine.
Drugs or donations, had to be one or the other..
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