Wow! Complex Scheme to Defraud Somalia during TFG period in 2009-2014 Uncovered

[Dues Ex Machina]

During the periods of 2009-2014 in which Somalia was headed by former Quranic school teacher turned insurgent leader Shiekh Sharif and later Hassan Shiekh. There was a scheme to plunder the nation as there were clearly inept and corrupted leaders in the country. These two men have been exposed time and again for stealing donor aid and even signing over the rights of Somalia's maritime boundary to Kenya for a bribe. However this is a new uncovered corruption charge against these individuals.

There has been an investigation made into an attempt by these two men to Defraud the country of Somalia.

There were assets to the tune of hundreds of millions held within the Central Bank of Somalia accounts oversees that were frozen in 1991 as the civil war began. These two former Presidents (Shiekh Sharif and Hassan Shiekh) tried to steal these assets by overturning the freeze on those assets belonging to the Central Bank of Somalia. There were up to $12 million dollars of these assets released to the TFG and the lawyer that they hired to recover these assets.

That same lawyer has now been officially charged in the United States in regards to this fraudulent scheme.


Here is a link to the article which goes into detail about the subject and the excerpt of the investigation provided: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/attorney-charged-plot-steal-somali-government-funds-74525687

Attorney charged with plot to steal Somali government funds
A Maryland attorney has been charged with engaging in a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $12.5 million in Somali government assets from financial institutions and keep a portion of the money for himself
By
MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press
December 3, 2020, 7:56 PM ET
• 3 min read
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- A Maryland attorney has been indicted on charges he engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $12.5 million in Somali government assets from financial institutions and was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a law firm that kept more than $3 million of the money.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Jeremy Wyeth Schulman, 45, of Bethesda, on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

Schulman and others tried to fraudulently obtain control over hundreds of millions of dollars in Central Bank of Somalia assets held in bank accounts that had been frozen due to civil war and political instability in the African country, the 11-count indictment says.

Schulman presented banks with forged and falsified documents to fraudulently gain control of millions of dollars in Somali government assets between 2010 to 2014, the indictment says. It also says Schulman personally received hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from the law firm that improperly retained $3.3 million of the Somali assets for fees and expenses.

Paul Butler, one of Schulman’s attorneys, said in a statement that they believe U.S. Justice Department prosecutors are “misinformed” and failed to thoroughly investigate and identify “all exculpatory evidence."

“We are confident that when permitted an opportunity to tell his story, Mr. Schulman will be wholly vindicated of any criminal conduct, let alone fraud,” Butler said.

The law firm that retained the money isn't named in the indictment.

Schulman currently serves as a managing member of Schulman Bhattacharya and chairs the law firm’s commercial litigation and arbitration group. The firm's website says Schulman has represented the Federal Republic of Somalia in “various matters, including conducting an investigation of financial corruption allegations asserted by the United Nations Monitoring Group for Somalia and Eritrea.”

Schulman is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Monday before a federal magistrate judge in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Butler said the Transitional Federal Government of the Republic of Somalia “engaged” his client to assist it in recovering assets frozen overseas, including in the U.S. The U.S. government doesn't dispute that more than $9 million in assets were returned to the Somali Central Bank, according to the defense lawyer.

“For more than four years, Mr. Schulman and his team worked tirelessly to assist a nation desperately in need of financial resources to ensure the government’s recovery from nearly two-decades of civil war. Over that time, Mr. Schulman has endeared himself as a trusted advisor and advocate of the Somali people,” Butler said.

Here are a few of pieces these documents below:

 

[Dues Ex Machina]

If anyone is curious as to who the former leaders Shiekh Sharif and Hassan Shiekh are, here is a brief video on them. Followed up with some background on their dealings and the circumstances around their terms that some might not be familiar with.


Here is the link for the first article in which mps are curious as to why Shiekh Sharif gave a large portion of Somalia's maritime boundary to Kenya which is at the ICJ as of now: https://www.voanews.com/archive/som...nswers-controversial-maritime-agreement-kenya

Here is the link for the second article in which mps tabled a motion to impeach Hassan Shiekh over his gross corruption and incompetence that this newly published documents only verify further: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...QK09Q20150815?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

 

[Prime Minister]

It appears to me when I am reading that they did indeed gain the money there should be an investigation on this by the parliament and they need to create a commission.

 

[Dues Ex Machina]

@Prime Minister

You're correct they did receive some of the money, so did the lawyer. This sort of scandal deserves a special committe and the parliament to convene on this matter to ensure there is a process put into place to recover the frozen assets of pre civil war Somalia which are still not in hand.

Furthermore the difference between our societies is glaring since the lawyer is being brought to justice by the judicial system in the United States.

On the other hand, Shiekh Sharif and Hassan Shiekh have the audacity to run for President again after all of the looting they've done. Shameless doesn't begin to cover what they are.

 

[kickz]

Sad but expected, we need a better judicial system to hold other branches of government accountable.

 

[BlackJack]

Every Somali leader in the past decades has tried to defraud Somalia in some way or another.

 

[Ferrari]

fake news!

 

[kickz]

Every Somali leader in the past decades has tried to defraud Somalia in some way or another.

You sayin we should try a Xalimo next

 

[GemState]

You sayin we should try a Xalimo next

Somalia needs a hooyo

 

[kickz]

Somalia needs a hooyo

Our fkd/discourse in politics is brain dead, I'd hate to see what they would say about a hooyo.

 

[Sloane Ranger]

Somalia needs a hooyo

Someone like Dr. Maryam Qassim would be amazing.

 

[Revolutionary]

Someone like Dr. Maryam Qassim would be amazing.

What's her credentials

 

[Sloane Ranger]

What's her credentials

She's a medical doctor that is the current minister of health I believe.

 

[Dues Ex Machina]

Hassan Shiekh won't be able to come back from this one since it's very damning information with clear connections between him and this lawyer.

Here is the United States Department of Justice which released a Statement on this event.

Maryland Lawyer Charged with Defrauding Financial Institutions and Other Entities to Obtain Control over $12.5 Million of Somali Sovereign Assets

A Maryland lawyer was charged in an 11-count indictment for his alleged role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain control of more than $12.5 million that was held by financial institutions on behalf of the Somali government, to improperly take part of those funds for fees and expenses, and to...

www.justice.gov