News India Times
April 8, 2016
14
Community
– that’s all you need to know
FromNews Dispatches
ukundkumar Patel,
an East Cleveland
businessman, was
sentenced March 24
to a year in federal
prison for trying to bribe a city
councilman for help in getting a
beer and wine license.
According to a Cleveland.com
report, Patel, the owner of
McCall’s Motel on Euclid
Avenue, did not make a state-
ment before U.S. District Judge
Christopher Boyko sentenced
him.
His attorney, Joseph
Patituce, asked for a lighter
sentence in view of the fact that
Patel has lived an otherwise
law-abiding life.
Boyko, against the wishes of
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Antoinette Bacon, gave a lower
sentence than the two-and-a-
half years that Patel faced in a
plea agreement he reached in
October.
The judge said he reduced
the sentence because it
appeared that Patel was not
trying to obtain the license out
of greed, but rather because of
“business pressure.”
Boyko also fined Patel, 52,
$10,000 and allowed Patel to
self-report to prison.
Patel was charged in
August. According to the
report quoting court docu-
ments he wanted to add a
convenience food mart to his
business and needed the
license to sell beer and wine.
He offered a bribe to City
Council Vice President Thomas
Wheeler, a former Cleveland
police officer, who reported the
offer to the FBI and helped
agents with the investigation.
Patel paidWheeler $4,000
when the councilman showed
up at his motel.
Patel, however, was not aware
thatWheeler was recording their
conversation. Patel never got the
license.
M
Prison Term For Cleveland Man For Trying To Bribe City Councilman
Bya StaffWriter
O
ver two dozen people
from Desis Rising Up
and Moving, including
some Bangladeshi asylum-seek-
ers who were earlier detained by
authorities, met with represen-
tatives of the Clinton Campaign
in NewYork last week, demand-
ing that the presidential con-
tender speak out publicly to halt
the imminent deportations of
159 Bangladeshi migrants.
Several of the former
detainees expressed their con-
cern to campaign representative
Mini Timmaraju, who met with
themMarch 29 to listen to their
concerns. They said that with
the mass deportation of hun-
dreds of Muslim detainees
potentially scheduled for next
week, they are anxiously waiting
for what the former Secretary of
State will do to prevent their
return to violence, repression,
and potential death in
Bangladesh. A letter was also
sent to presidential contender
Sen. Sanders who met with a
former hunger striker to advo-
cate on their behalf.
When the detainees began
hunger strike last fall, their sup-
porters rallied at Clinton’s office,
seeking the former secretary of
state’s support for the detainees
release. With their removal
believed to be scheduled next
week, they returned to her cam-
paign last week seeking urgent
help to halt the deportation of
these asylum-seeking migrants.
Former hunger striker and
DRUMmember, Jahed Ahmed,
said that he left Bangladesh and
traveled across a dozen coun-
tries to escape political repres-
sion and save his life. “Instead, I
ended up rotting away in deten-
tion for over 10 months. The
U.S. government gave the
names of many of the detainees
to the Bangladeshi government,
and they then leaked them to
the media. Our asylum cases
and hunger strikes have become
a political issue for the
Bangladeshi government, and
now the Obama Administration
wants to deport me back to
where I will be tortured or
killed,” he said.
While a few of the detainees
have been let out from the
detention centers, most of them
are still in detention at various
centers.
Another detainee and DRUM
member, Saiful Islam, said that
“we know this problem is wide-
spread. We have seen the
Central American refugees,
including women and children,
deported back and killed. The
same thing will happen to us if
these deportations are not
stopped.”
The impending deportations
of hundreds of Muslim immi-
grants have raised concerns
across the country, prompting
over 15,000 people to sign
online petitions with MPower
Change.
“So, what is the difference
between these two parties? The
Republicans threaten to keep
immigrants and Muslims out,
and the Democrats are already
doing it. We came here to ask
the Clinton campaign if they
support or oppose the current
administration’s record of
deportations and police of
deportation to death,” said
Sayma Khan of DRUM.
Detained Bangla Asylum-seekers Seek Clinton’s Help To Halt Deportation
Bya StaffWriter
T
hree men of South
Asian origin have plead-
ed guilty to carrying out
bank fraud to the tune of mil-
lions of dollars.
Binder Tal, Baldev Tal,
a/k/a “David Tal,” a/k/a
“Ashok Kumar,” and Shariful
Mintu, each pled guilty to
committing bank fraud
equalling $2.5 million, before
U.S. District Court Judge
Vincent L. Briccetti, U.S.
Attorney for the Southern
District of NewYork Preet
Bharara announced March 28.
Binder Tal, 34, and, Baldev
Tal, 34, both from Oresfield,
Pennsylvania, had earlier pled
guilty on Feb. 24, and Feb. 29,
respectively, to one count of
conspiring to commit bank
fraud. Mintu, 36, of
Montgomery, NewYork, pled
guilty March 28, to the same
charge, which carries a maxi-
mum sentence of 30 years in
prison.
The two Tals are scheduled
to be sentenced on June 1,
and Mintu’s sentencing is
scheduled for July 7.
“Through various lies
about their employment and
income, Binder Tal, Baldev
Tal, Shariful Mintu and their
coconspirators obtained more
than $2.5 million in loans and
lines of credit,” Bharara is
quoted saying in a press
release.
“The banks and credit
unions that the defendants
defrauded were left holding
the bag when the vast majori-
ty of these loans defaulted,”
Bharara added, thanking the
investigative work of a coali-
tion of agencies including the
U.S. Postal Inspection Service,
IRS Criminal Investigation
Division, and the NewYork
State Police Auto Crimes Unit.
According to the court
papers and guilty pleas filed
in the case, from 2007 to 2015,
the three accused obtained
loans and lines of credit by
submitting dozens of loan
applications providing false
information about their
assets, employment and
income.
They succeeded in procur-
ing $2.5 million, which they
spent on themselves and their
families, paying off credit card
expenses, business expenses
and debts the press release
said.
They also made extensive
efforts along with co-conspir-
ators, to perpetuate and con-
ceal the scheme using multi-
ple borrowers for different
loans.
Three Men Of South Asian Origin
Plead Guilty To Bank Fraud
Over two dozen people from Desis Rising Up and Moving met with Clinton
Campaign representatives in New York March 29, to demand that the presidential
contender halt imminent deportations of 159 Bangladeshi migrants
