New LV link made in terrorism, counterfeiting investigation

Thursday, April 24, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

DETROIT -- A possible Las Vegas connection to a terrorism investigation has surfaced again in a Detroit courtroom, this time tied to a $12 million counterfeiting case.

Omar Shishani, a U.S. citizen of Chechen descent who was investigated for potential terrorism links after he was arrested at Detroit's airport, pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of possession of $12 million in counterfeit cashier's checks drawn from a West American Bank in Pomona, Calif.

In June 2002 seven men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on charges of passing counterfeit checks at the MGM Grand from the same bank branch, which doesn't exist.

Shishani was accused of conspiring with two of seven men arrested by Metro Police at the MGM on charges of trying to pass similar checks totaling $800,000 at the casino. The two men, Jimmy Leung and Aziz Massomipour, were arrested on June 12 along with Asatour Magzanian, Jaman Khan, Mohammad Nadery, Hans Walton and Henry Davis.

Shishani's plea comes two weeks after Youssef Hmimssa, the star government witness in another Detroit case, testified that a group of men accused of operating a terrorist sleeper cell had talked about targeting Las Vegas. Hmimssa said the men, who had a video of the MGM and Disneyland, had talked about destroying Las Vegas.

Five of the seven men accused in the Las Vegas counterfeiting case are scheduled to go to trial on May 15 in federal court in Las Vegas, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Damm said.

"Everything I've read says that Shishani is going to cooperate, and that could change things in this case," Damm said.

Currently, Leung and Walton remain in custody, and Magzanian, Nadery and Davis have been released under the supervision of pretrial services until trial.

Massomipour is a fugitive. Khan has pleaded guilty to counterfeit check charges.

Shishani, 48, a Dearborn, Mich., resident who was arrested July 17 when he arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Indonesia, made his plea in exchange for one count of possession of a counterfeit security being dropped.

At the time of his arrest, a federal law enforcement official said the FBI was investigating whether Shishani had ties to terrorist groups.

Leung and Massomipour's group in Las Vegas were under investigation by Metro Police in May 2002, after a confidential informant alerted police that Massomipour was interested in passing fake checks, according to court documents.

An undercover detective met with Massomipour and provided Leung and Massomipour with two rooms at the MGM the day the checks were to be cashed, court documents state. The detective went with some of the men to the casino cage to cash checks totaling $600,000.

Another check for $200,000 was later found in one of the rooms, and all seven were arrested.

Shishani's attorney, Corbett O'Meara, told the Detroit Free Press that his client was branded a terrorist only because of his Middle Eastern name and because he was swept up in the hysteria after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Shishani's sentencing is set for Aug. 19. If the plea deal is approved, he could be sentenced to as few as 6 1/2 years in prison because prosecutors could recommend the shorter term.

Sun reporter

Jace Radke and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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