Tuesday, March 30, 2004 Jeweler
pleads guilty in missile sale case
Photo:
Gem dealer Yehuda Abraham leaves US
District Courthouse in Newark, New
Jersey. NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- A
New York jeweler and money remitter pleaded guilty
Tuesday to his role in the transfer of $30,000 used
-- without his knowledge -- as the down payment on
the sale of a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile,
the U.S. attorney's office said. Yehuda Abraham, 76, also admitted before
U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden that
he was prepared to accept hundreds of thousands of
dollars more from the same contacts involved in the
missile sale in a separate deal. Abraham said that
in both instances he did not know, and did not ask,
what the money was to be used for. He pleaded
guilty to running an unlicensed money transfer
company. At his sentencing July 19, Abraham faces a
maximum sentence of five years in prison and a
$250,000 fine. Prosecutors said Abraham handled
funds for the initial missile purchase by Hemant
Lakhani, 68, of London. Lakhani is alleged to have told an investigator
that the shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles
being imported into the United states "could be
used most effectively in terrorist attacks against
commercial aircraft in the United States if 10 to
15 commercial aircraft were shot down
simultaneously at different locations throughout
the country," according to the indictment against
him. In September, U.S. Attorney Christopher
Christie said Lakhani waived his Miranda rights
and confessed at length to an FBI agent on the day
of his arrest. Lakhani's attorney, Henry S.
Klingeman, said that his client "was induced to
participate in the scheme after the
[government's] informant lured him in with
the prospect of making a lot of money." Klingeman said Lakhani, whom he describes as a
Hindu entrepreneur, has absolutely no ties to
terrorist groups and has never been politically or
religiously active in the 40 years he's lived in
London with his family. "If the government had not
approached him he would be sitting in London
selling women's clothing," Klingeman said.
Prosecutors said they have numerous video and audio
tapes that prove their case. Lakhani, 68, agreed to
detention without bail in September. He is charged
with arms dealing without a license and providing
material support for terrorism. The charges
followed an 18-month collaboration among officials
in the United States, Russia and Britain. According to federal prosecutors, Lakhani
boasted of sales to terrorist groups and thought he
had struck a deal to sell a missile to a Somali
group seeking to launch a "jihad" against a U.S.
commercial airline. He tried to sell the group 200
missiles, and later insisted they buy 50 after they
received the first one, priced at $85,000,
prosecutors said. The man claiming to represent the
Somali group was instead a cooperating witness for
the United States, the missile Lakhani brought into
the country was a dud, and the undercover Russian
authorities who sold it to him were in on the plan.
If convicted, Lakhani could be sentenced to 25
years in prison. 
New
York Times profile of Yehuda Abraham, gem dealer
involved in laundering cash for terorrist
missile sting
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