A Westchester businessman was sentenced in federal court Monday to 10 years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to charges of terrorism financing and wire fraud conspiracy.
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, a bank underwriter and Ardsley resident until his arrest in early 2007, last September admitted arranging the transfer of $152,500 that he was told would be used to buy equipment and medical supplies for terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was paid $15,000 by a man working with him on the transfer, who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Alishtari, also known as Michael Mixon, further admitted to fraud in his operation of a loan investment program he called the Flat Electronic Data Interchange, which he promised investors would yield high, guaranteed rates of return. Few, if any, of the investors received back the money they had invested, let alone the promised returns, Bharara said. Alishtari stole more than $18 million that he used to pay his own expenses and to support what Bharara called “a lavish lifestyle.”
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein also sentenced Alishtari to three years of supervised release and said he will be ordered to pay an as yet undetermined amount of restitution to his fraud victims.
