New York: US Cricket Team captain Steve Massiah has been arrested in connection with a Queens-based mortgage scam allegedly run by Edul Ahmad, a broker whose 40,000 dollars donation to Republican Gregory Meeks is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
US officials have confiscated Massiah’s passport and restricted his travel after arresting him on November 22 on charges of allegedly defrauding banks and mortgage companies by falsifying mortgage loan applications.
Massiah, 32, an Ahmad employee, became captain of the US Cricket Team. His passport was confiscated, and he seems certain to miss an important March qualifying tournament in Dubai.
“I’m concerned,” said one team official.
Massiah, who did not respond to requests for comment, has entered into plea negotiations with the US Attorney’s Office, court records show.
Also charged were Qayaam Farrouq, 42, who plays in a New York cricket league, and Mohamed Gurmohamed, 58. Both were real-estate salesmen in Ahmad’s office.
Ahmad was arrested in July, and he’s also discussing a plea deal with the FBI.
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Authorities are interested in what he might tell about the 40,000 dollars he gave Meeks in 2007, which the congressman didn’t disclose until the FBI questioned Ahmad about it. The House Ethics Committee is currently probing whether it was an illegal gift.
In Massiah’s case, he applied for a 292,500 dollars loan from Countrywide in 2007 to a buy a home in Jamaica, falsely saying he earned 6,650 dollars a month as a manager at Ahmad’s catering company, court papers show.
He said he intended to live in the Jamaica home, when in reality he was buying the property with Ahmad.
