Breaking News…Feds drag Ed Ahmad from Delta flight in handcuffs
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
. . . man was heading to Guyana
The FBI yesterday arrested a Queens businessman who made a questionable $40,000 “loan” to Rep. Greg Meeks on mortgage fraud charges.
Edul Ahmad, a Guyanese who owns a major business in Guyana, is a key figure in ongoing probes of the “loan” Meeks forgot to repay for 3 1/2 years until the Daily News exposed it.
The Guyana business is Building Materials and Appliances Depot located in Industrial Site, Ruimveldt.
Ahmad had already boarded Delta 383 at JFK International to head to Guyana when Federal agents boarded the aircraft and forcibly removed him in handcuffs.
Ahmad was hit with a criminal complaint alleging that he conducted an extensive scheme to commit mortgage fraud, regularly lying about applicants’ income and using straw buyers to hide his involvement.
His lawyer, Steven Kartagner, declined to discuss whether Ahmad was in discussions with the FBI and the Brooklyn U.S attorney before his arrest.
Ahmad was released on $2.5 million bail. He declined comment.
In January 2007, Ahmad gave Meeks $40,000 to finish paying off the congressman’s new $830,000 home. There was no discussion of interest rates, collateral, due dates and no documents were generated at the time, sources familiar with the transaction have told The News.
Meeks did not list the transaction on 2007 or 2008 financial disclosure forms he filed with the House, revealing it for the first time in a 2009 form that was filed in mid-2010.
In July 2010, shortly after The News revealed details of this transaction and the FBI paid Ahmad a visit, Meeks suddenly paid back the money and called it a loan.
Meeks is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation, as well as a probe by the Office of congressional Ethics.
(Story from New York Daily News By Benjamin Lesser and Greg B. Smith)