NEW YORK – A man who plead guilty to impersonating an FBI agent was sentenced to three years in prison, authorities said.
Ayman Rabadi, of Yonkers, impersonated an agent and scammed victims out of at least $180,000 and other valuables after he promised that he could provide various forms of federal assistance, officials said.
“Rabadi’s actions were both criminal and heartless, as he used the authority and prestige of the FBI to lure victims into his greedy scheme. Today he learned the price of his behavior,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
Authorities said Rabadi was arrested shortly after he accepted $10,000 in cash from an undercover agent of the FBI who was posing as the niece of one of his victims. The money was purportedly a down payment toward the $300,000 Rabadi requested in exchange for obtaining the release of the victim’s relatives from jail.
He was arrested immediately after leaving the Yonkers restaurant where the payment was made, and was in possession of the $10,000, officials said.
Rabadi, 52, has an extensive criminal history that includes a 2008 conviction in the state of New Jersey for the felony of theft by deception. In that case, he created the false impression that there were criminal charges pending against a victim, that Rabadi was connected to law enforcement, and that he could resolve the charges favorably for $75,000.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas ordered Rabadi to forfeit $190,000 in ill-gotten gains and to make restitution to a victim of his fraud in the amount of $180,000, officials said.