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by Jennifer Morrill
The Jersey Journal
June 20, 2001
As two of the three Jersey City men arrested in
Florida last week in a federal sting operation that centered on
international arms dealing and money laundering head to court today,
details about who the trio are continue to emerge.
One contributed to Mayor Bret Schundler's bid for the
Republican gubernatorial nomination while another was once considered an
up-and-coming mover and shaker in the black business community.
Background on the third, however, remains sketchy.
Mohammed Rajaa Malik, 52, a local businessman and
former Jersey City Zoning Board member, donated $1,000 to Schundler's
primary campaign in the name of his store, One Stop Shop Market, also
known as Grove Liquor and Deli, on Grove Street, election records show.
Malik, also known as "Mike," and Diaa Mohsen, 57, were
arrested June 12 by federal agents after they attempted to buy weapons,
including Stinger missiles, from undercover officers, officials said.
Mohsen faces possible charges of arms dealing and
money laundering, while Malik faces a possible arms dealing charge.
Prosecutors plan to ask that bail be denied for the two at today's
hearing in federal court in Florida.
The third city man, 42-year-old Kevin Ingram, was also
arrested in the 31-month investigation on money laundering charges but
was released on a $250,000 bond.
Ingram, who in 1996 was named one of the top 25
African-American "movers and shakers" by Black Enterprise magazine,
earned a name for himself at two prominent investment firms.
Of the three men, Malik, a native of Pakistan, appears
to be the best known in the community.
"He used to talk to me all the time about what was
going on in City Hall," Yvonne Balcer, who lives Downtown and frequented
Malik's deli and liquor store, said yesterday. "A lot of people are
laughing in Downtown Jersey City after seeing Schundler say he does not
know him."
The store, which is now closed, had its lottery
operations stripped by the state several years ago, though officials
could not say yesterday why the machines were removed.
In an interview with The Jersey Journal last week,
Schundler said he didn't know Malik, who local politicians described as
a political hanger-on. Through his spokesman yesterday, Schundler
maintained that position.
"It's possible he may have run into him at a meeting
or something, but he doesn't know anything about the guy," said Bill
Guhl, Schundler's campaign spokesman. "Just because you are introduced
to someone at a fund-raiser does not mean you have continuing
communication."
But Balcer, who ran unsuccessfully for an at-large
City Council seat on Louis Manzo's mayoral slate in May, said Schundler
isn't being truthful.
"How can Schundler, who lives in the neighborhood, say
he does not know this guy?" Balcer said yesterday. "It's just an
indication of how he lies.
"There are a lot of people who may not live up to our
expectations, but that does not mean we don't know them," she said.
Balcer also said Schundler should return the
contribution, but Guhl said he doesn't know if the mayor has that in
mind.
"I am not sure if he plans to return it or not," Guhl
said. "I don't think he has any plans to return it, but we have not
talked extensively about it."
Undercover agents for the federal bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms met with Malik and Mohsen on at least a dozen
occasions from December 1998 until their arrests June 12 in Boca Raton
and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as well as in New Jersey and New York to
discuss the arms deals, shipment and payments, according to court
papers.
During one of these meetings, Mohsen and Malik told an
agent, posing as a rogue arms dealer, and a government informant that
they wanted to purchase missiles, night-vision goggles, grenade
launchers and guns for a foreign country, the records show.
At one point, the men allegedly told the undercover
agent that the weapons were for a former foreign military official. It
was still not clear yesterday which country the men were allegedly
working for.
But while many people in the Jersey City political
scene said Malik -- who at one time owned several smoke shops and liquor
stores -- was known for going out of his way to make connections,
residents near his businesses described him as a nice guy.
"When I heard about that news, it shocked me," said
Mahmood Hussain, who runs the coffee shop in the Gregory Park building
on Marin Boulevard where Malik once lived. "I don't believe it. He had
four children and a family, why do they need to do like that?"
Hussain, who said he knew Malik for about nine years,
said if the allegations prove true, Malik must have been pressured.
'James Bond'
City residents were unable to offer much insight on
Mohsen, who lives on Pavonia Avenue, or Ingram, who owns property in New
York, Jersey City and Connecticut.
"He has been living there, and I know his face, but we
have never met him," said one of Mohsen's Pavonia Avenue neighbors, who
asked that her name not be used. "They have only been there for about a
year, but they don't come out much in the neighborhood."
Val Rodriguez, Mohsen's attorney, said last week
that the court records read like "a James Bond novel," and that his
client is a victim of "entrapment." Rosemarie Mohsen, Diaa Mohsen's
wife, said the charges are "all untrue" and that it was "entrapment by
the FBI."
In 1998, Mohsen was charged in Hudson County with
writing bad checks, but local prosecutors offered Mohsen admittance into
the Pre-Trial Intervention Program, which wipes the slate clean upon
completion. But First Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Terrence Hull
could not confirm whether Mohsen finished the program.
Power broker
Ingram, who told a judge he is currently between jobs
and is living off savings accumulated from years as an investment
banker, laundered $350,000 on two separate deals in 1999 for the
informant and undercover agents, taking a 9 percent cut, court records
charge. He was brought into the investigation after Mohsen introduced a
government informant to him in June 1999, court records indicate.
He was arrested last week, along with a Connecticut
man, after agreeing to launder an additional $2.2 million of what was
said to be arms money for a 25 percent cut, the records say.
According to published reports, Ingram ran the
mortgage trading division at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan from 1992 to
1996, when he left to head up the mortgage-backed securities department
at Deutsche Bank.
In January 1999, after his division suffered costly
losses, he was asked to resign, the reports said. Goldman Sachs declined
to comment.
He was also working with the Upper Manhattan
Empowerment Zone, an economic development program in Harlem, to reopen
Minton's Playhouse, a nightclub known as the birthplace of bebop,
according to published reports. He also wanted to expand a famous
chicken and waffle restaurant.
Reports indicate the plans were stalled after Ingram
failed to raise capital in addition to the $200,000 dispersed to him.
The agency has begun legal efforts to recoup the initial loan.
© Copyright 2001
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