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Wednesday, June 25, 2003 |
TIMELINE Sept. 19, 2001: FBI agents visit Mohamed El-Atriss at his Paterson store, and he provides them with credit card receipts and records of his transactions with the hijackers.
Spring 2002: Passaic County sheriff's officers begin investigating El-Atriss after patrol officers stop drivers and find they were using international licenses supplied by El-Atriss' business. July 31, 2002: Passaic County sheriff's officers raid El-Atriss' Paterson and Elizabeth businesses, not knowing he had left several days earlier on a trip to Egypt with his family. Aug. 20, 2002: El-Atriss returns to the United States and is arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. He had learned he was wanted by watching news reports of his case on television, and tried to turn himself in at the American embassy but was turned away. He turned himself in to Egyptian authorities and spent 11 days being questioned before he was released. Nov. 19, 2002: State Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark hears evidence in secret from a Passaic County sheriff's officer. After the 90-minute proceeding in her court chambers, she doubles El-Atriss' bail to $500,000. January 2003: El-Atriss' lawyer files papers seeking to have the bail reduced or the secret evidence revealed. The state cites national security and says releasing the information would jeopardize the "safety of the general population." Feb. 4, 2003: El-Atriss pleads guilty to selling "simulated documents," in a deal that will bring five years of probation, a $15,000 fine, and credit for the six months he served in the county jail. He is freed later that night on $50,000 bail. April 10, 2003: Media outlets, including The Record, file suit, seeking to have the secret evidence revealed. The state no longer objects, but now El-Atriss' lawyer fights the release. May 30, 2003: Bill that would stiffen penalty for "simulated document" crimes passes the state Senate. Currently the charge is likely to bring probation, but the change would make it more likely that a perpetrator would be sent to prison. June 3, 2003: Clark rules the evidence should be released, but gives El-Atriss' lawyer time to ponder an appeal. |
He had a list of names of Sept. 11 hijackers, taken from the Internet and underlined.
There were his supposed ties to a Jersey City business used by terrorists in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and to the company's owner, a suspected terrorist. And there was a cryptic fax that mentioned jet airplane parts.
That was some of the evidence presented by authorities during a secret court hearing seven months ago in an effort to keep a Paterson businessman - initially charged with selling IDs to two of the hijackers - behind bars. The 80 pages of transcripts were released Tuesday.
But Mohamed El-Atriss, who has since pleaded guilty to the document charges, continued to insist he has nothing to do with terrorism and has simple answers for every allegation.
"I'm very sad that I was held for six months based on this information," El-Atriss said Tuesday during a news conference. His lawyer blasted the allegations.
"Nothing was corroborated. ... It illustrates the danger and irreparable harm of secret evidence," said Clifton attorney Miles Feinstein.
Authorities, however, said the transcripts, revealed after news outlets sued for their release, speak for themselves in a case in which El-Atriss was held for months on unusually high bail.
El-Atriss, 46, of Union, was sentenced to probation, a fine, and time served for the six months he spent in the Passaic County Jail before he was released in February. He admitted selling "simulated" documents to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers from his Market Street office, All Services Plus, not knowing their plans.
But while he was jailed, state Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark took the almost unprecedented step of holding the secret hearing, taking testimony from a sheriff's detective. Afterward, the judge doubled El-Atriss' bail to $500,000.
Most of the allegations come as the detective cites information he said he received from conversations with FBI agents. The transcripts also shed light on tensions among law enforcement agencies over the case.
Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale went to arrest El-Atriss on July 31 with the news media in tow, not knowing El-Atriss was on a planned trip to Egypt. Afterward, federal authorities said Speziale had thwarted an investigation.
During the secret hearing, Detective Sgt. Fred Ernst said El-Atriss was listed as a co-owner of a Jersey City check cashing/mailbox company, Sphinx Trading, that was "red-flagged" by the FBI because the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing used a mailbox there.
"It was also indicated to me by the FBI that several of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 event also had mailboxes at that location," Ernst said. Another owner of Sphinx Trading, a high-volume, high-cash operation, was listed in a law enforcement database as a terrorist, Ernst said.
El-Atriss said he knew the owner and had helped incorporate the business in 1987, but abandoned his share a year later. Current incorporation records do not show El-Atriss as a principal.
"I've had no relationship with him, I have no idea what he is doing in his life or his business," El-Atriss said. Ernst said the investigation showed El-Atriss had wired several thousand dollars from the location; El-Atriss said he used it to send money back to family because it was quick.
A manager at Sphinx Trading said the owner had nothing to do with terrorism and was a U.S. citizen on vacation in Europe.
"If he was a terrorist, why wouldn't they arrest him?" said the manager, who declined to give his name. The manager said he had worked at the business for years and knew nothing about terrorists using mailboxes there.
Then there was the allegation that El-Atriss had downloaded a list of the hijackers' names from the Internet. During the secret hearing, Ernst testified that El-Atriss culled the names before he was contacted by the FBI.
El-Atriss said he did not remember underlining any names, but said he pulled the list only after FBI agents asked him if he knew whether he had sold IDs to any of the other hijackers.
Ernst said records showed one of the hijackers phoned El-Atriss' business seven times; El-Atriss said he does not recall speaking to the man, but he might have called to inquire about documents.
Ernst also referred to documents that "contained the names of two additional hijackers and their telephone numbers." El-Atriss said the names were written down by the visiting FBI agent, who asked El-Atriss to check his files. The phone number, El-Atriss said, was the agent's.
During the secret hearing, Ernst also referred to a 1999 fax found in El-Atriss' office that mentions the possible purchase of jet airplane parts. El-Atriss said at the time, he was working with a colleague in Egypt who wanted him to get the parts, but the colleague ultimately got them elsewhere.
During the secret hearing, Ernst also referred to tensions among law enforcement agencies. He said he heard that on the day of the botched raid, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie called the sheriff and said, "If the sheriff gives a press conference ... he would be arrested and the U.S. attorney would come down and shut down the Sheriff's Department."
U.S. attorney spokesman Mike Drewniak said that is not true. "He did get on the phone with the sheriff minutes before he was to have his news conference, and he did voice his displeasure with what had transpired," said Drewniak. He declined to say what federal authorities were investigating.
Ernst said when the Sheriff's Department began its probe into El-Atriss' document shop, it worked with the FBI. But several weeks before the botched raid, Ernst said the county authorities were told that federal authorities had no interest in the document investigation.
The FBI, the Sheriff's Department, and the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the transcripts or on El-Atriss' explanations.
El-Atriss is living with one of his adult daughters and trying to start a maintenance company. He said he hopes to bring his young children and his wife back from Egypt, where they have stayed since he returned to face arrest last year.
He said he feels terrible that hijackers purchased his documents and he regrets operating the document shop. He said he was told by lawyers and law enforcement officers he was not breaking laws.
El-Atriss is considering whether to file a civil suit for his treatment in the case.
"I would like to confront everyone, so that I can know everyone will know the truth," he said.
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Wednesday, June 25, 2003 |
Here he was, a man claiming to be innocent after he'd pleaded guilty, and the most amazing thing was, he deserved a respectful listen.
His name is Mohamed El-Atriss. In March he was sentenced to time served - six months - and probation for selling fake IDs. That's a small-time scam, unworthy of being wined and dined and entertained at a state prison. Probation was the obvious answer and the prosecution didn't complain at all. Officially, that was the end of the El-Atriss case.
TIMELINE Sept. 19, 2001: FBI agents visit Mohamed El-Atriss at his Paterson store, and he provides them with credit card receipts and records of his transactions with the hijackers.
Spring 2002: Passaic County sheriff's officers begin investigating El-Atriss after patrol officers stop drivers and find they were using international licenses supplied by El-Atriss' business. July 31, 2002: Passaic County sheriff's officers raid El-Atriss' Paterson and Elizabeth businesses, not knowing he had left several days earlier on a trip to Egypt with his family. Aug. 20, 2002: El-Atriss returns to the United States and is arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. He had learned he was wanted by watching news reports of his case on television, and tried to turn himself in at the American embassy but was turned away. He turned himself in to Egyptian authorities and spent 11 days being questioned before he was released. Nov. 19, 2002: State Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark hears evidence in secret from a Passaic County sheriff's officer. After the 90-minute proceeding in her court chambers, she doubles El-Atriss' bail to $500,000. January 2003: El-Atriss' lawyer files papers seeking to have the bail reduced or the secret evidence revealed. The state cites national security and says releasing the information would jeopardize the "safety of the general population." Feb. 4, 2003: El-Atriss pleads guilty to selling "simulated documents," in a deal that will bring five years of probation, a $15,000 fine, and credit for the six months he served in the county jail. He is freed later that night on $50,000 bail. April 10, 2003: Media outlets, including The Record, file suit, seeking to have the secret evidence revealed. The state no longer objects, but now El-Atriss' lawyer fights the release. May 30, 2003: Bill that would stiffen penalty for "simulated document" crimes passes the state Senate. Currently the charge is likely to bring probation, but the change would make it more likely that a perpetrator would be sent to prison. June 3, 2003: Clark rules the evidence should be released, but gives El-Atriss' lawyer time to ponder an appeal. |
It wasn't the end of the speculation, though, because among the buyers of those worthless IDs that he sold were Khalid Almihdhar and Abdulaziz Alomari. Almihdhar died at the Pentagon. Alomari died at the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Almihdhar and Alomari were terrorists.
But El-Atriss was not a terrorist.
So said El-Atriss himself Tuesday afternoon in the Clifton office of his lawyer, Miles Feinstein, one of New Jersey's star defense attorneys. Crowded around the table in Feinstein's conference room were an SRO pack of journalists; there were four TV cameras, microphones with lots of the alphabet represented, and scribes from The Record and such lesser lights as The Washington Post.
The occasion was the release of the transcripts of secret sessions held in the Passaic County Courthouse, during which El-Atriss was accused of ties with terrorism going back more than a decade and the forms of which included Stinger missiles and money-laundering, among others.
Mind you, El-Atriss was never accused of any of this face-to-face: These court sessions were so secret, the defendant and his lawyer were not invited. His lawyer, Feinstein, said El-Atriss' secret hearings were the first ever held in New Jersey and the first ever held against a U.S. citizen after Sept. 11. The information presented at those hearings, and released to the public Tuesday, "was a damnation of an acquittal," Feinstein added. El-Atriss himself said he was considering launching a civil suit so that he could finally confront his accusers.
Just two or three days after Sept. 11, El-Atriss was questioned by the FBI. The FBI questioned him several times and inspected the records at his ID shop in Paterson. The FBI never arrested El-Atriss, and did not prevent him from going to Egypt. That's where El-Atriss learned that the Passaic County Sheriff's Department wanted him for selling fake IDs, which were often touted as international driver's licenses and which would never fool a trooper. (El-Atriss voluntarily returned to face the charges, by the way.)
It seemed straightforward back then - the FBI didn't move against El-Atriss on any of the terrorism investigations, so the sheriff's officers were moving on the fake ID charge. But there was heck to pay, with the FBI and the state Attorney General's Office publicly thrashing the sheriff's officers. The implication was that they had interrupted a huge terrorism investigation, endangering more Americans.
Turns out, that was baloney. In my (admittedly quick) reading of the transcripts of the secret court sessions in which neither El-Atriss nor his lawyers were invited, a litany of terrorist-related activities is ascribed to El-Atriss, and none are backed by facts. Nevertheless, at the time, the understandably cautious judge increased El-Atriss' bail from $250,000 to $500,000 cash, which he couldn't meet, so he stayed in the Passaic County Jail until he eventually pleaded guilty to the ID scam.
Feinstein said the whole transcript of the secret sessions is marked by unsubstantiated slander, innuendo, rumor, and hearsay - double and triple hearsay, he said. Normally when a man like El-Atriss, who pleaded guilty, or a high-priced defense attorney uses words like slander, innuendo, rumor, and hearsay, you chuckle and say, "Yeah, sure."
However, Feinstein put forth one piece of evidence on El-Atriss' behalf: "I submit that if Mr. El-Atriss were a terrorist," said Feinstein, looking directly into all the TV cameras, "he wouldn't be sitting next to me today."
How can you argue with that?
Rod Allee may be reached at The Record, One Garret Mountain Plaza, P.O. Box 471, West Paterson, N.J. 07424, or via e-mail at allee@northjersey.com . Please include your name and phone number.
Bill takes aim at makers of phony licenses
The state Senate took a crack at fighting terrorism Thursday.
A bill that would stiffen penalties against someone who makes false driver's licenses cleared the Senate with a unanimous vote and heads back to the Assembly for the second time, where it is expected to pass.
Legislators say the bill will give authorities more leverage to turn up the heat on everyone involved in document fraud and identity theft, from the masterminds behind the scenes to the small players on the street.
The bill springs from the arrest of Mohamed El-Atriss, the Union Township man who admitted to selling falsified licenses to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
El-Atriss said he sold international driver's licenses from his Paterson office from 1999 to 2002 and told buyers they could be used as valid New Jersey licenses. But he said he had no knowledge of any terrorism plan. In March, he received a sentence of five years probation, a $15,000 fine, and time served for the six months he spent in the Passaic County jail after his arrest.
That sentence would have been more severe for El-Atriss under the bill being considered.
The bill makes it a second-degree crime to falsify a driver's license, sell a doctored license, or offer to sell a document that falsely purports to be a driver's license. Conviction could carry a 10-year sentence.
People who are convicted of second-degree crimes are typically sentenced to prison time, rather than probation.
The penalty in the current statute, under which El-Atriss was charged, is a third-degree offense, and carries a maximum five-year prison term. People who are convicted of third-degree offenses are normally sentenced to probation time, as El-Atriss was.
"New Jersey has been especially hard hit by identity theft crimes," said Sen. Joseph Coniglio, D-Paramus. "We can no longer afford to risk the lives of ... residents by allowing identity theft criminals to use our state as their weapon."
Before passing the bill, senators added a provision that says a teenager who uses a falsified driver's license to buy alcohol or cigarettes would not be subject to the bill's stiffer penalties. They say the penalties are aimed at criminals with more malicious intent, not juveniles.
Michelle Han's e-mail address is han@northjersey.com
Attorney tries to keep 9/11 evidence secret
| Wednesday, April 30, 2003 |
A Paterson businessman who sold IDs to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers will be "tried in the press ... not in a courtroom" if a state judge reveals the secret evidence that was used against him, his attorney argued Tuesday.
Mohamed El-Atriss pleaded guilty in February to selling "simulated documents" to the hijackers, not knowing what they planned to do. He was sentenced to probation and time served - the six months he spent in the Passaic County Jail.
Before El-Atriss pleaded guilty, his attorney, Miles Feinstein, argued it was unfair that his client's bail had been doubled after Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark heard evidence in secret.
Now, in response to a suit filed by six media outlets seeking to view the evidence, Feinstein is arguing that revealing it would invade his client's privacy, because the information never led to criminal charges.
"Without safeguards, we'll have an erosion of constitutional rights, like the right to confront witnesses against you," said Feinstein, who was allowed to review the secret evidence to prepare his case.
Before El-Atriss' plea, prosecutors said releasing the information would jeopardize the "safety of the general population."
Now, they say "there no longer is a compelling public interest" to keep it sealed, and that they cannot detail how the public-safety situation has changed without revealing the secret evidence, said Steven Brizek, Passaic County senior assistant prosecutor.
Louis Pashman, the attorney for the media outlets, argued Tuesday that the bulk of court rules and court rulings provide for openness of hearings. Clark said she will rule in June.
But most of Tuesday's debate was between the judge and Feinstein.
El-Atriss' attorney said revealing the evidence also would be unfair to other people mentioned during the secret proceeding. Because El-Atriss agreed to cooperate with ongoing phony-document cases, Feinstein said releasing the evidence also might make defendants less willing to cooperate in the future.
"This in no way furthers the interests and goals of law enforcement ... and privacy should prevail," he said.
The case has made for some strange legal arguments. During the bail hearing, prosecutors relied on a 1973 case in which a judge heard secret evidence when setting bail. At the time, Feinstein dismissed that precedent, but cited it in his arguments Tuesday.
Feinstein said he would have no right to rebut the allegations revealed by the secret evidence. But Clark said she doubted the media would ignore El-Atriss' responses.
Feinstein said the information would unfairly and forever taint his client. Clark noted that El-Atriss was indelibly linked to the Sept. 11 disaster through his plea.
Clark said she had never closed a court hearing before and that she had been "very, very concerned" given the facts presented. She said she noted her reasons for closure in the sealed record, but that the public might want to know why.
"What about public trust in the court system?" she said.
Jennifer V. Hughes' e-mail address is hughesj@northjersey.com
The convenience of being clueless
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Sunday, March 9, 2003 |
HOW SHOULD history regard Mohamed El-Atriss, the owner of a Paterson "documents store" who sold fake driver's licenses to two Sept. 11 hijackers?
His supporters describe him as a victim, caught in a web of overly aggressive cops and the politics of anti-terrorism. Critics counter that he was an accomplice to terrorism. Others say he was a mere footnote to Sept. 11.
I have another label: How about conveniently clueless?
El-Atriss, clad in a blue blazer, white shirt, red tie, and khaki pants, stood in a Paterson courtroom last week to be sentenced for selling fake driving permits. It was a moment for him to say something profound, perhaps, "I'm sorry." But El- Atriss remained silent, his eyes boring into the floor, as attorney Miles Feinstein spoke on his behalf.
A month earlier when he pleaded guilty to a single count of selling fake licenses, El-Atriss, 46, Egyptian-born and an American citizen for 20 years, wept but said little. "Mr. El-Atriss wishes he could be a Monday morning quarterback," attorney Feinstein said back then.
Couldn't El-Atriss have said that?
What El-Atriss did say a month ago is worth noting. He said, "Never in my life did I have anything to do with terrorism." And he admitted, under questioning from Passaic County senior prosecutor Steven Brizek, that he unlawfully sold his "international driving permits" as the real thing.
Those fake permits were purchased in El-Atriss' All Services Plus store on Paterson's Market Street by two Sept. 11 hijackers - one on the first jetliner that struck the World Trade Center, another on the jet that smashed into the Pentagon.
Which brings us to this incongruity. After admitting his guilt in court, El-Atriss declared to reporters outside: "I knew I hadn't done anything wrong."
Nothing? What about selling phony licenses to terrorists? And why, after learning terrorists bought your fake licenses, did you continue to sell them?
The last question is the most perplexing. Why keep selling fake ID after Sept. 11? Where is your moral tripwire that signals something is wrong?
You would think being told about the hijackers might cause El-Atriss to stop and reflect on what he was selling. Think again. El-Atriss was still marketing phony licenses for as much as $145 each, less if you had a discount coupon. His store often took in as much as $2,000 a day selling fake permits, authorities say.
Last week after being fined $15,000 and sentenced to five years probation, El-Atriss performed his see-no-evil act once more. Inside the courtroom, he went through the legal motions. Outside, his words made you wonder if he understands that his "documents store" was not just illegal but a tool for terrorists.
Standing in a hallway at the Passaic County courthouse, he was asked if he had any regrets. "I regret what happened," he said. "But I don't feel I'm responsible."
Then he offered a lame excuse. He said "at one time after Sept. 11," he went to several cops and asked: "Do you have a problem with what I am doing?"
"The answer," he said, "was no."
El-Atriss said he also consulted an attorney - not Miles Feinstein - and was told his fake licenses were entirely legal. "All this," he said, "gave me a clear picture that what I was doing has nothing to do with being wrong."
Just who was the see-no-evil lawyer consulted by El-Atriss? Who were the see-no-evil cops?
El-Atriss fell conveniently silent. Attorney Feinstein cut in: "Don't answer that."
Defending his sale of driving permits, El-Atriss then cited what he called an international driving treaty. Such a treaty exists. It allows for the sale of international driving permits. But in the United States, only two agencies are authorized to sell driving permits to American citizens - the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance. El-Atriss's store is not authorized. How did he not know that?
There is something all too convenient about El-Atriss' cluelessness. Or as Superior Court Judge Marilyn Clark correctly noted: "I can not fathom how anyone who says he loves his country could make his living selling fraudulent documents."
Especially after Sept. 11.
To some, Mohamed El-Atriss was treated far too harshly - and that may indeed be true. Last July, police raided his store. He was vacationing in Egypt with his family, but voluntarily flew home and was thrown in jail for almost six months. In November, after a closed-door hearing in which secret intelligence information reportedly was discussed, his bail was doubled to $500,000. But the debate over his treatment should not cloud the fundamental questions about his fake ID business.
"I'm glad it's over," El-Atriss said last week.
He wrong. It's not over. Mohamed El-Atriss needs to face up to what he did. And cops need to face something, too.
Other "document stores" continue to operate in Paterson, mostly preying on illegal immigrants. It's time to close them down.
Record Columnist Mike Kelly can be contacted at kellym@northjersey.com .