A 19-year-old Virginia man pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to conspiracy to commit money laundering and harboring a fugitive. Danish Syed of Smithfield faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and 10 years in prison for harboring a fugitive. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on Dec. 24.
The charges against Danish Syed stemmed from his efforts last year to help his half-brother Mehdi Syed avoid prosecution on federal bank fraud and identity theft charges.
According to the statement filed with the plea agreement, Mehdi Syed was charged in March 2014 with an account take over and identity theft scheme. As alleged in the indictment, Danish Syed, under the guise of a legitimate company, sought to obtain thousands of dollars from customers of SunTrust Bank by fraudulently transferring funds from individual accounts to nominee checking accounts established by Mehdi Syed in the names of aliases and purported business entities, a FBI press release said.
In April 2014, Mehdi Syed, who was located in North Carolina, agreed to surrender to authorities. He relocated his family from North Carolina to Smithfield, Virginia; the home of his mother, his step-father and his half-brother, Danish Syed. After Mehdi Syed failed to turn himself in, authorities interviewed his family members and they each claimed they did not know his whereabouts.
The next day however, Mehdi Syed’s mother contacted authorities and admitted they had lied to the FBI. But she admitted of not knowing his exact location as Danish Syed drove him to a hotel on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Mehdi Syed was later arrested and on May 2014 was released on bond and electronic monitoring.
While on electronic monitoring, Mehdi Syed opened bank accounts under several aliases. His ankle bracelet was cut off and discovered July 9 in a wooded area in Hampton. Court documents allege Mohammed Syed electronically accessed a person’s bank account and illegally transferred thousands of dollars into accounts he controlled. Some of the money was later withdrawn from various ATMs in Lahore, Pakistan.
The bank eventually closed the accounts Mohammed Syed controlled and sent the remaining money to Danish Syed’s Smithfield home. Danish Syed then deposited the money into another account his half-brother could access in Pakistan, the press release said.
