No terrorism link is made yet to bad checks

Kim Smith

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

Defense attorneys for three men indicted in June on counterfeiting charges doubt federal authorities will find a link between their clients and the al-Qaida terrorism organization.

Last week authorities announced the arrest of a Jordanian man in Michigan who prosecutors believe was trained by al-Qaida. Omar Shishani, 47, was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport carrying $12 million in phony cashier's checks drawn from a West America Bank in Pomona, Calif.

In June seven men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on charges of passing counterfeit checks from the same bank branch, which doesn't exist.

Jimmy Leung, Aziz Massomipour, Asatour Magzanian, Jaman Khan, Mohammad Nadery, Hans Walton and Henry Davis were arrested at the MGM Grand on June 12.

Lee Fields, the acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service in Las Vegas, and FBI Special Agent Daron Borst confirmed Monday that both agencies are seeking a link between the Detroit case and the Las Vegas case and a possible link with al-Qaida.

"As of yet there are no indications that there was anything other than check fraud going on," Borst said.

Borst and Fields declined to specify what actions their agencies are taking.

Defense attorney Scott Bindrup, who represents Afghanistan native Mohammad Nadery, said he doubts any connection will be found.

"There's al-Qaida fever in this country at this time," Bindrup said. "It's tough to be an Afghani these days."

At best federal authorities might be able to prove that his client was a "minimal player" in a counterfeit check-cashing scheme, Bindrup said.

Nadery is a 63-year-old diabetic and stroke victim who came to the U.S. in 1984 and became a citizen in 1990, Bindrup said. The Reseda, Calif., resident has no criminal history, he said.

John N. McNicholas, who represents Fontana, Calif., resident Harry Davis, said he also doubts any terrorism links will be found. If there are, however, the federal authorities will have much "bigger fish to fry" than Davis, he said.

If Davis did anything, he played a small role in a check cashing scheme and had no idea anything else was going on, McNicholas said.

"To me, this sounds like fiction," McNicholas said of the terrorism speculation. "The whole al-Qaida link to Las Vegas always seems to be blown way out of proportion."

Davis is a 52-year-old divorced American who, up until now, "has had no real issues with the law," McNicholas said.

Davis and Nadery were released on their own recognizance and have returned to California pending trial. Paul Wommer's client, Pakistan native Jaman Khan, is being held by the Immigration and Naturalization Service for entering the country illegally, Wommer said.

Wommer described his client as a "nice guy."

"Is there any connection between him and the guy in Detroit? I don't know," Wommer said. "A lot of times, though, there is smoke, but no fire. Let's find out what's going on before we jump to any conclusions."

According to a federal court documents, an undercover Metro detective met with Massomipour and Leung on May 20 after a confidential informant told him that Massomipour was interested in passing fake checks.

Massomipour sent the detective a sample check and told him that if they agreed to do business together he had several people of various nationalities willing to cash the checks.

After agreeing to terms, Massomipour told the detective a Persian, Afghan and two black men would be passing the checks, the documents say.

The detective provided Massomipour and Leung two rooms at the MGM Grand and on the day the checks were to be cashed, Magazanian, Khan and Nadery were seen going into the rooms and joining the two other men. The detective then "escorted Khan, Walton and Davis to the VIP casino cage where the three individuals uttered three counterfeit cashiers' checks totaling $600,000," court documents state.

Khan, Walton and Davis had fake driver's licenses and fake Discover platinum credit cards, court documents show.

All of the men were arrested immediately and another counterfeit check for $200,000 was found in the motel room along with fake identification.

Authorities are now searching for Massomipour, who didn't show for his last court appearance. The rest of the men are scheduled for trial Aug. 20, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Damm.

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