ICE removes Pakistani man convicted, ordered to pay $71 million in laundering scheme

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) removed a citizen of Pakistan, yesterday, Sept 25, 2018, upon his release from the Moshannon Valley Correctional Center (MVCC) in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.

Muhammad Sohail Qasmani, 50, was convicted on June 28, 2017, in federal court for the offense of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and sentenced to 48 months imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $70,960,070.73.

On Dec. 22, 2014, he applied for admission to United States at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, as a B-2 nonimmigrant visitor. U.S. Customs and Border Protection paroled him into the United States for the purpose of criminal prosecution and released him to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

In an interview with FBI agents, Qasmani admitted that from November 2008 up to and including Dec. 31, 2012, that he agreed to provide money laundering services to coconspirators in exchange for a percentage of the money he transferred. Qasmani provided these services with the knowledge, understanding, and/or belief that his collaborators had obtained this money from victims of an international telecommunications fraud scheme.

On June 28, 2017,  Mr. Qasmani was convicted federally for the offense conspiracy to commit wire fraud. On July 24, 2017, ERO Philadelphia encountered him at MVCC in and lodged an immigration detainer on Mr. Qasmani.

On May 3, 2018, ERO Allenwood issued him an order of expedited removal, charging him as being inadmissible to the United States, as an alien not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or other valid entry document required for entry.

On June 15, 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons released Mr. Qasmani to ERO Philadelphia custody, and he was subsequently detained at the Pike County Correctional Facility in Hawley, Pennsylvania, pending his removal.

Mr. Qasmani was removed from the United States and turned over to Pakistani authorities without incident.