U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that BILAL AHMED, a/k/a “Bill,” age 41, formerly of Covington, was charged today in a three count Indictment charging him with two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
AHMED is charged with devising a scheme to defraud others which he posed as a wealthy individual who stood to received millions of dollars, including from his native country of Pakistan. It is alleged that he induced at least one other conspirator to work with him, directing this conspirator to pretend to be a bank employee and make other false statements. AHMED presented false documents, including a fraudulent $100,000,000 loan document to others. As a result of AHMED’s fraudulent representations, he caused wirings totally $70,000 to be made in interstate commerce.
If convicted, AHMED faces a statutory maximum sentence of twenty years in prison for each of the wire fraud counts, and a five-year term of imprisonment on the conspiracy charge. He also faces substantial monetary penalties, supervised release, and restitution.
U.S. Attorney Polite reiterated that the Indictment is merely an allegation and that the guilty of the defendant must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt
U.S. Attorney Polite commended special agents of Homeland Security Investigations and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Deputies, who investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hayden Brockett is in charge of the prosecution.