OHIO
A former deputy treasurer of Ohio has been extradited from Pakistan to the United States to serve a 15-year prison sentence for his role in a bribery and money laundering scheme involving the Ohio Treasurer’s Office, officials announced Wednesday.
Amer Ahmad, 40, of Chicago, plead guilty in December 2013 to federal program bribery and conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, honest services wire fraud and money laundering.
Following his guilty plea, Ahmad fled the United States and was arrested by Pakistani authorities while attempting to illegally enter that country, officials said.
He has remained in custody and the U.S. government requested his extradition.
On Dec. 1, 2014, U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced in abstentia Ahmad to 15 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $3.2 million in illicit proceeds.
According to admissions in connection with his guilty plea, officials said from January 2009 through January 2011, Ahmad used his position as deputy treasurer to direct official state of Ohio business to securities broker Douglas E. Hampton in return for bribes.
Ahmad and Chicago businessman Joseph Chiavaroli concealed the payments they received from Hampton by passing them through the accounts of their landscaping business.
Hampton also funneled more than $123,000 to Mohammed Noure Alo, an attorney and lobbyist who was Ahmad’s close personal friend and business associate.
Over the course of the scheme, Hampton paid in excess of $500,000 in bribes and received, in exchange, approximately $3.2 million in commissions for 360 securities trades on behalf of the Ohio Treasurer’s Office.
In November 2014, Hampton and Alo were sentenced to 45 months and 48 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the scheme.
Chiavaroli was sentenced in December 2014 to 18 months in prison.