Money Laundering and Fraud—Shawqi Omar

The FBI has arrested five relatives of Shawqi Omar in Utah and California.^[1] Shawqi Omar is a 44-year-old Kuwaiti native who also has US and Jordanian citizenship.^[2] He is described as a terrorist and is being held by the US military in Iraq, after being arrested at his home in Baghdad in October 2004.^[3] He has not, however, been charged with any crime, even though “the U.S. government claims he was harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian fighters at the time of his arrest and also had bomb-making materials.”^[4] He has, however, been indicted in Jordan “in an aborted chemical attack on the Jordanian intelligence agency.”^[5] That attack was allegedly to be carried out by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.^[6] According to “court filings, U.S. military officials [say that Shawqi] Omar had taken al-Zarqawi’s sister-in-law as a second wife.”^[7]

His relatives are already being said to have connections to al-Qaeda because of Mr. Omar, and yet none of the five men arrested have been charged with anything but money laundering and bank fraud. Authorities, however, maintain that they are investigation whether any of the money went to fund terrorism;^[8] if it did, a superseding indictment may be sought, charging material support of terrorists.

Hannah Omar, wife of Sharif Omar—who is Shawqi’s brother, said that she did not know why her husband was arrested on charges of money laundering and bank fraud.^[9] According to the four indictments, “the Omar family members, aided by three other Utahns, defrauded banks of hundreds of thousands of dollars with bad mortgage and car loans from 2000 to 2004.”^[10] One of Shawqi’s nephews, Ihab Ramadan, “allegedly wired $50,000 to an account in Amman, Jordan.”^[11]

All five relatives were indicted months ago, but the indictment was kept under seal until another nephew, Alaa Ramadan, returned to California from Jordan.^[12] The Omar family as a whole is also attempting to keep Shawqi Omar from being tried in the Iraqi court system, and they also allege that he is being tortured, and that the FBI is manufacturing connections between Shawqi Omar’s alleged terrorist activities and the activities alleged in the US indictments. ^[13]

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[1] See Matthew D. LaPlante, A Utah Link to Terrorism?, Salt Lake Tribune, Apr. 27, 2006; Five Relatives of Terrorism Suspect Arrested in California, Utah, Associated Press (via KSL.com), Apr. 27, 2006.
[2] AP, supra note 1.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] LaPlante, supra note 1.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] AP, supra note 1.
[9] LaPlante, supra note 1.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.