Written by Raymond Rivera
Illegal Alien Sentenced in Racketeering Conspiracy


09/25/2008 4:24 PM ET

BALTIMORE, Md. - A U.S. District Judge sentenced a man to 33 months in prison for a racketeering conspiracy case that also involved a man from Salisbury.

U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis sentenced Mohammad Asif, 33, of Milwaukee, Wis., on Thursday to 33 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Asif was sentenced for a racketeering conspiracy related to a scheme to bribe officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to illegally obtain green cards. Judge Garbis also ordered that Asif forfeit $111,000 and Asif is expected to be deported after serving his federal sentence.

According to his guilty plea, Asif was born in Pakistan and is neither a citizen nor a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.

According to court documents, associates of Asif paid a cooperating witness, who held himself out to be involved in large-scale international drug trafficking and international smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes, $11,000 toward a $21,000 bribe to fraudulently obtain a green card for Asif.

Authorities say the associates had previously paid money to the cooperating witness as bribes to abate sales and use taxes against their own businesses, and to fraudulently obtain green cards for their associates. Investigators say the cooperating witness, acting at the direction of federal law enforcement, represented that he would facilitate payment of the bribes to his alleged contacts in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

On Oct. 24, 2006, Asif met with the cooperating witness in Milwaukee, paid him $10,000 to complete the payment of his bribe and received his fraudulently obtained green card, court documents say. From November 2006 to June 2007, Asif helped to arrange four other of his associates to fraudulently obtain green cards through the payment of an additional $90,000 in bribes to the cooperating witness to pass on to an individual they believed to be an immigration official, according to officials.

Court documents indicate that the payments for the bribes were all made to the cooperating witness, who provided the money to federal law enforcement agents. Officials say there were in fact no corrupt immigration and state officials involved in the scheme.

Irshad Ahmed, age 46, of Jersey City, N.J., pleaded guilty to bribery and was sentenced to three years probation with 11 months of that to be served in community confinement. Saeed Ahmed, 46, of Salisbury, Md., also pleaded guilty on Aug. 5 to the racketeering conspiracy and is scheduled to be sentenced in November. Officials say to date, 20 defendants have pleaded guilty to their participation in this scheme.



http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9074768