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NEWYORK/ISLAMABAD
Pakistani citizen Ali Raza who was known as NY and NI has been awarded life imprisonment by a New York court on the charges of leading a group of others in identity theft, bank wire fraud, and credit card theft, allegedly defrauding the public and the United States government out of $1 million
Raza pled guilty to these charges and asked the judge in the Southern District Court of NY for leniency, claiming that he came from an impoverished background in the poverty stricken-village of Gujrat, Punjab. He also claimed to the judge that he was an educated man that had been led astray. However, the prosecution refuted these claims and found that Raza had never even attended college, and his graduate degree from Zamindar Degree College in Madina Syedan, Gujrat is also a fraud.
FBI special agent Mathew Sowa caught Syed Raza after an investigation that ran for over four years, starting in January of 2015. Agent Sowa told the court that Raza was caught stealing credit card information and social security numbers from the public multiple times during this time. The FBI agent also had over 20 voice recordings of Raza’s phone calls detailing how he defrauded people translated from Urdu for the court to hear.
The defendant had set up a Limo and Uhaul dealership, called RJ Limo with his wife Jannatul, that he used to access information to which he had no right. Multiple witnesses attended the hearing and told the District Judge (HON. VALERIE E. CAPRONI) that Syed Ali Raza had defrauded them out of money and financial information.
On September 27th, 2019, Syed Ali Raza was found guilty of bank wire fraud and identity theft and was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison without parole. Raza filed an appeal and was placed on house arrest with an electronic monitoring device until November 15th, 2019. However, Syed Ali Raza cut his GPS bracelet and fled as a fugitive to Canada and did not turn himself over to police as instructed. Therefore, his appeal was denied by the judge with prejudice under the Fugitive Disentitlement Doctrine.
Syed Ali Raza was apprehended across the border in Canada on March 12th, 2020, where FBI agents escorted him across the border to the USA to face judgment. Raza was indicted and now faces up to 20 years in prison for his felony charges. The District Judge (HON. VALERIE E. CAPRONI) has stated that Syed Ali Raza will definitely be deported to his home country of Pakistan after he has served his life sentence.
Syed Raza also has to pay over $380,000 in restitution and can no longer open a bank account or apply for any credit cards. He has also been ordered to turn over his business, car, and house to the government, which was later foreclosed to pay his debts.
Syed Ali Raza’s trial date for being a fugitive of the state and felony indictment is set for March 13th, 2021. We will continue to bring you updates on this case. If you or anyone you know has been taken advantage of by this criminal individual, please reach out to your local police department.
District Judge has remarked in the decision the culprit will be sent to his own country after his conviction by the court and he will not be able to open his bank account nor can he apply for credit cards.
The hearing of the case of the accused has been set as March 13, 2021.
The social and political circles have expressed concern over growing cases of loot and plunder, corruption and other heinous crimes saying such persons who are involved in these case are earning bad name for the country in the comity of nations.
