After sinking Senator, Ed Ahmad faces jail

Less than a year after he pleaded guilty to one of 10 counts of fraud charges in a New York court, well known Guyana-born real estate broker, Edul Ahmad, is preparing to be sentenced.

Businessman, Ed Ahmad (r) with fallen Senator John Sampson (l) in the good times.

Prosecutors on Thursday wrote Judge Dora Irizarry of the Eastern District of New York Court asking her to issue orders that will prepare Ahmad for sentencing. The businessman was the star witness in the case brought by the feds against Senator John Sampson, who was found guilty late last month in a Brooklyn court. It was widely felt that the delay in Ahmad’s sentencing was because he was cooperating with the feds in the Sampson case. In February 2012, he reportedly wore a wire, recording Sampson during a meeting. In July, he gave testimony during a four-week trial. In a court request filed Thursday, Assistant US Attorney, Alexander Solomon, on behalf of Loretta Lynch, US Attorney, said that the government, with the consent of defence counsel, Steven Kartagener, wants the Court to order the United States Probation Department to begin preparation of the pre-sentence investigation report for the defendant, Ahmad. “Mr. Kartagener, Esq., has requested to be present for any interview of his client conducted by the United States Probation Department.” Ahmad is well known to the tens of thousands of Guyanese living in the New York area, as he was well connected in the real estate business, before his downfall. A former policeman in Guyana, he appeared in a New York court before Judge Irizarry in October 2012 and pleaded guilty to count one of the ten-count criminal complaints against him, and told the court that his attorney has advised him that there is no viable defense to the charges against him. In admitting guilt, Ahmad told Judge Irizarry that between January 1995 and January 2009, within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, together with others, he knowingly and intentionally conspired 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$50 million, 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. In detailing the allegations against the Queens businessman with strong political connections, Judge Irizarry outlined a scheme which had as its victims not only financial institutions, but also many ordinary New Yorkers, most of whom were Guyanese immigrants pursuing the American dream to own their own home, only to find themselves trapped in a real estate scheme, ultimately resulting in them losing their homes in foreclosure proceedings, while Ahmad and his co-conspirators made millions of dollars. Ahmad’s attorney had signaled intentions to challenge the financial loss attributed to him. Prosecutors had advised a term of between 121 and 151 months (10 to approximately 13 years) of imprisonment for Ahmad. Ahmad’s case has attracted much attention from the media in Guyana and in New York, fueled by his strong political connections in Guyana and the U.S. He reportedly has properties in Guyana and had shipped containers of building materials to former President Bharrat Jagdeo.