Jeweler pleads guilty in missile sale case
From Ronni Berke and Jennifer Styles
CNN
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NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- A New York jeweler and money remitter pleaded guilty Tuesday to his role in the transfer of $30,000 used -- without his knowledge -- as the down payment on the sale of a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Yehuda Abraham, 76, also admitted before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden that he was prepared to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars more from the same contacts involved in the missile sale in a separate deal.
Abraham said that in both instances he did not know, and did not ask, what the money was to be used for.
He pleaded guilty to running an unlicensed money transfer company. At his sentencing July 19, Abraham faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors said Abraham handled funds for the initial missile purchase by Hemant Lakhani, 68, of London. (Full story)
Lakhani is alleged to have told an investigator that the shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles being imported into the United states "could be used most effectively in terrorist attacks against commercial aircraft in the United States if 10 to 15 commercial aircraft were shot down simultaneously at different locations throughout the country," according to the indictment against him.
In September, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said Lakhani waived his Miranda rights and confessed at length to an FBI agent on the day of his arrest.
Lakhani's attorney, Henry S. Klingeman, said that his client "was induced to participate in the scheme after the [government's] informant lured him in with the prospect of making a lot of money."
Klingeman said Lakhani, whom he describes as a Hindu entrepreneur, has absolutely no ties to terrorist groups and has never been politically or religiously active in the 40 years he's lived in London with his family.
"If the government had not approached him he would be sitting in London selling women's clothing," Klingeman said.
Prosecutors said they have numerous video and audio tapes that prove their case.
Lakhani, 68, agreed to detention without bail in September.
He is charged with arms dealing without a license and providing material support for terrorism. The charges followed an 18-month collaboration among officials in the United States, Russia and Britain.
According to federal prosecutors, Lakhani boasted of sales to terrorist groups and thought he had struck a deal to sell a missile to a Somali group seeking to launch a "jihad" against a U.S. commercial airline.
He tried to sell the group 200 missiles, and later insisted they buy 50 after they received the first one, priced at $85,000, prosecutors said.
The man claiming to represent the Somali group was instead a cooperating witness for the United States, the missile Lakhani brought into the country was a dud, and the undercover Russian authorities who sold it to him were in on the plan.
If convicted, Lakhani could be sentenced to 25 years in prison.