Two Sentenced for Roles in Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme Involving Former Ohio Deputy Treasurer | WPN World People News

A former lobbyist and a former securities broker have been sentenced for their roles in a bribery and money laundering scheme involving the Ohio Treasurer’s Office.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark T. D’Alessandro of the Southern District of Ohio, Special Agent in Charge Kevin R. Cornelius of the FBI’s Cincinnati Division and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson of the Southern District of Ohio.

Douglas E. Hampton, 40, of Uniontown, Ohio, was sentenced to serve 45 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $2,202,259. Mohammed Noure Alo, 35, of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced to serve 48 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $123,622. Last year, Alo pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting honest services wire fraud, and Hampton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, federal program bribery and money laundering. The former Deputy Treasurer for Ohio, Amer Ahmad, fled after pleading guilty to federal program bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, federal program bribery, and money laundering, and is currently in Pakistani custody pending an extradition request from the United States government.

Joseph Chiavaroli, 34, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to money laundering and is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 1, 2014.

According to the defendants’ admissions in connection with their guilty pleas, from approximately January 2009 through January 2011, Ahmad, Alo, Hampton and Chiavaroli conspired to use Ahmad’s position as deputy treasurer to direct official state of Ohio business to Hampton in return for bribes from Hampton. Ahmad and Chiavaroli concealed the payments received from Hampton by passing them through the accounts of their landscaping business. Hampton also funneled more than $123,000 to Alo, an attorney and lobbyist who was Ahmad’s close personal friend and business associate. During the course of the scheme, Hampton paid in excess of $500,000 in bribes, and received, in exchange, approximately $3.2 million in commissions for 360 securities trades on behalf of the Ohio Treasurer’s Office.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice