News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Oct. 10, 2012: Popular Guyanese, New York-based realtor, Ed Ahmad, could spend the next 12 plus years of his life in jail.
Ahmad, 44, political contributor to many New York-based politicians, admitted today, October 10th, that he was guilty of a US$50 million mortgage fraud following an appearance before New York Judge Dora Irazarry. The admission of guilt came following a plea deal copped with prosecutors last month.
His sentencing date is yet to be set but federal prosecutor, US Attorney Alexander A. Solomon, has indicated that the prosecution would be seeking 121 to 151 months jail terms- the equivalent to about 10-12 years 7 months.
Ahmad could also have to pay US$28 million in criminal fine and face a mandatory criminal forfeiture of US$500,000.
The self-made real estate magnate, who drove a yellow Lamborghini, hosted many events at his banquet hall and advertised prominently in Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park. He was charged with charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and 10 counts of bank fraud. A federal indictment had claimed that Ahmad conspired to defraud financial institutions, including Bank of New York, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, N.A., Countrywide Financial, Flushing Savings Bank, Fremont Investment and Loan, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., IndyMac Bank, One West Bank, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo & Company, and wholesale mortgage lenders, including New Century Mortgage Corporation and Owen Financial Corporation.
As detailed in the indictment, from 1995 to 2009, Ahmad was a licensed real estate broker in the state of New York and also acted as a loan officer. As part of the alleged scheme, the defendant submitted false loan applications and supporting documents to make borrowers of mortgage loans appear to be more creditworthy than they actually were. The defendant did that in order to profit from real estate commissions and loan fees generated by the transactions. Additionally, at the closings, Ahmad prepared and submitted documents that falsely misrepresented whether the borrowers actually made any payments to the sellers and understated the amounts of Ahmad’s real estate commissions and loan fees. In doing so, Ahmad prevented the financial institutions from discovering that his fees exceeded those permitted by the institutions. Many of the homes involved were ultimately lost in foreclosures because the borrowers could not afford to make their mortgage payments.
