Former Covington Resident Sentenced to Jail for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud

Acting U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that a former North Shore resident who had left the country last year before being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and arrested in early 2017, was sentenced today.

BILAL AHMED, a/k/a “Bill,” age 42, formerly of Covington, devised a scheme to defraud others of money and property. As part of this scheme, AHMED posed as a wealthy individual who stood to receive millions of dollars from his native country of Pakistan. During the conspiracy, AHMED presented false documents, including a fraudulent $100,000,000 loan document to others. As a result of AHMED’s false and fraudulent representations, he caused at least two wirings to be made in interstate commerce.

According to court records, AHMED agreed as part of his guilty plea that he left the United States for Canada in June 2016, approximately two months after the wirings took place. AHMED was arrested in January 2017, in the Western District of Michigan, and then indicted in February 2017, in the Eastern District of Louisiana. AHMED was then detained pending his guilty plea and sentencing.

United States District Judge Jay Zainey sentenced AHMED to a total of thirteen months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Following completion of his sentence, AHMED will be surrendered to the custody of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for immigration proceedings. Judge Zainey also ordered that AHMED pay $81,569 in restitution to the victim in the case.

U.S. Attorney Evans commended Special Agents of Homeland Security Investigations and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Deputies, who investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hayden Brockett was in charge of the prosecution.