What War on Terror ?: Terrorism Case is Switched to Fraud Charges
Wednesday, December 22, 2004 at 09:32PM
TheSpook
Two men whose convictions in the first terrorism trial after Sept. 11,
2001, were thrown out because of misconduct by prosecutors were charged
Wednesday with insurance and mail fraud. The new charges are part of a
long-running legal saga involving the defendants, Karim Koubriti and
Ahmed Hannan, who were once accused of being part of a terrorist cell.
But the terrorism prosecution was later dropped, serving as an
embarrassment to the Justice Department in a case the Bush
administration once hailed as a major victory in the war on terrorism.
The lead prosecutor is under investigation for his handling of the
case. The new indictment alleges that Koubriti, 26, and Hannan, 36,
devised a scheme to defraud Troy, Mich.-based Titan Insurance Co. by
filing false claims. It says the pair claimed they were injured in a
2001 car accident and submitted fraudulent claims for lost wages,
physical therapy and household services. "Mr. Koubriti will be pleading
not guilty to the latest charge, and we are looking forward to his day
in court when his name finally will be cleared," said Koubriti's
attorney, Richard Helfrick. Koubriti, Hannan and Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi,
38, were convicted in 2003 of document fraud, but the judge ordered a
new trial on those charges after he threw out the terrorism case. [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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