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Ex-fugitive who gave false information to FBI pleads innocent to fraud
From Phil Hirschkorn
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The attorney for a Pakistani man whose false tip caused a holiday terrorism alert in the United States entered a not guilty plea for him Thursday on 6-year-old fraud charges. The FBI halted a nationwide manhunt Tuesday for five men whom it said Michael John Hamdani had told Canadian authorities had illegally entered the United States from Canada. Between Christmas and New Years, the FBI had posted the men's pictures on its Web site and asked for the public's help in finding them. A jeweler in Lahore, Pakistan, came forward to say he was one of the men pictured, but he had never been to the United States. The FBI said Tuesday the five men actually "did not pose an imminent threat to public safety." After entering the plea at the Brooklyn federal courthouse, attorney Stanley Cohen ripped the U.S. government's handling of the matter. He would not discuss what Hamdani might have told the Canadian investigators about the five men, but he said, "Don't assume he said anything in that direction. ... The government has repeatedly distorted and manipulated information to serve a political end. That may be what happened here." The government, he said, has "not egg, omelet on its face." Cohen, who represented Hamdani six years ago, asked that he be replaced as Hamdani's attorney because of a possible conflict of interest. U.S. District Judge David Trager said he will appoint an attorney to take over the case. Hamdani faces a 1996 charge of "knowingly and intentionally" possessing false identification documents. He failed to appear at a May 1996 hearing after posting a $200,000 bond and had never entered a plea. He was retained in custody after Thursday's appearance. Cohen said Hamdani could be sentenced to a maximum of two years if convicted on the charge. He said he did not know if the agreement to extradite Hamdani will preclude any new charges. "I don't know what the Canadian lawyers negotiated away," he said. Sources have said Hamdani passed an Canadian lie detector test. Hamdani was arrested last October in Ontario for passing forged traveler's checks. Canadian police said they found $600,000 in forged traveler's checks and a number of fake passports in his house. An investigation into a Pakistani human smuggling ring had led to Hamdani. Canadian authorities said Hamdani, 44, is a Pakistani native who was living in Canada legally with his wife and three children, who are all Canadian citizens.
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