|
by Jon Burstein
August 23, 2001
A former top Wall
Street bond trader is ready to cooperate with federal authorities in a
money-laundering case arising from a South Florida sting into illegal
arms trading. While prosecutors haven't finalized a plea agreement for
Kevin Ingram, they revealed at a Wednesday court hearing that he is set
to testify against his co-defendants in the convoluted money-laundering
case. The case came out of a 31-month investigation that led to the
arrests of two New Jersey men who are accused of attempting to buy
Stinger missiles and other sophisticated military weaponry for a foreign
buyer. Richard Lubin, Ingram's attorney, confirmed that Ingram will
likely sign a plea deal on Tuesday but declined to discuss the terms.
Ingram, once a top
trader with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, is accused of laundering
$350,000 and then agreeing to launder an additional $2.2 million -- all
money presented as the proceeds of illegal arms sales. Ingram, 42, of
Jersey City, and Connecticut airplane broker Walter Kapij, 44, were
arrested June 12 in a Fort Lauderdale hotel room after they agreed to
launder the $2.2 million for a federal agent posing as a rogue arms
dealer, according to federal authorities. That day, federal authorities
also arrested Diaa Mohsen, 57, and Mohammed R. Malik, 52, after an
undercover agent showed them an inactive Stinger missile inside a West
Palm Beach warehouse, court documents indicate.
Mohsen, of Jersey
City, N.J., and Malik, of Watchung, N.J., had spent months talking with
undercover agents about buying missiles, grenade launchers, night-vision
goggles and possible components for a nuclear weapon, according to court
records. The men allegedly said at one point that they were acting as
middlemen for a former military official in a foreign country. Both the
U.S. Attorney's Office and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have
declined to comment on who they think was backing Mohsen and Malik.
Both men face two counts of trying to illegally export military
weaponry. Mohsen also faces additional money-laundering charges. Kapij,
of Wethersfield, Conn., and Mohsen are set to go to trial on the
money-laundering charges in November before U.S. District Judge Donald
Middlebrooks. Mohsen is charged with helping Ingram launder the $350,000
in two 1999 transactions. Lubin said Ingram would only testify in the
money-laundering case and doesn't have any connection with the
arms-trading case.
But Mohsen's
attorney, Val Rodriguez, said there's more to Ingram than meets the eye.
"It will be revealed at trial that he's engaged in illegal activity the
government doesn't know about," Rodriguez said. He declined to
elaborate. Kapij's attorney, Jim Eisenberg, said prosecutors also
revealed Wednesday that they don't intend to call the government's
confidential informant in the stings -- Randy Glass -- as a witness in
the money-laundering case. Glass, a former Boca Raton jeweler convicted
of fraud, had a 20-month sentence reduced to seven months three days
after the arrests. Eisenberg and Rodriguez have indicated that Glass'
credibility could become a key issue in the money-laundering case.
Return to Table of Contents |