Montgomery, Ala. – On Friday, January 13, 2017, Husam Usama Tayeh, 36, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, was sentenced to 1 year in federal prison for committing wire fraud, announced United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr and Joseph P. Borg, Director of the Alabama Securities Commission. Tayeh’s sentenced resulted from his operation of a business that unlawfully sold Iraqi currency---dinars—over the internet to customers all over the country. A joint-federal and state investigation led to Tayeh’s conviction. Tayeh will also be subject to 1 year of supervised release after he serves his sentence.
According to court documents, Tayeh was the owner of Dinar Corporation, Inc. (Dinar Corp.), a company registered in Nevada and headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Through Dinar Corp., Tayeh operated a website, www.dinarcorp.com. On that website, Tayeh offered to sell customers Iraqi dinars. One of the ways that Tayeh’s customers could buy dinars was through installment contracts. When a customer entered into an installment contract, Tayeh promised to place in reserve the quantity of dinars to be purchased by the customer. Tayeh assured customers that he would ship them the reserved dinars upon the customers making their final contract payments. Tayeh defrauded customers in that he never actually placed dinars in reserve and never had access to enough dinars to fulfill all orders should the orders all come due.
Court documents also explain how Tayeh found his way to an Alabama federal court. Tayeh was unable to find a bank in or around Chicago that would take his ill gotten money. Therefore, Tayeh contracted with a resident of Dothan, Alabama to launder the Dinar Corp. proceeds through Dothan banks.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alabama Securities Commission. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan S. Ross and Kevin P. Davidson are prosecuting the case, along with Steven P. Feaga, Deputy Director of the Alabama Securities Commission for Enforcement and Prosecution, and Amanda W. Senn, General Counsel of the Alabama Securities Commission.