Muslim wants home detention
A suspect's lawyer says that his client's faith puts him at risk in a halfway house
The attorney for a Honolulu man accused of a $100 million investment fraud asked a federal judge to allow him to go home to his family rather than be confined to a halfway house, because of his Muslim religious beliefs.
Michael Green expressed concern that other detainees could mistreat his client, Sayed Qadri, 33, because of religious and ethnic differences.
"We have 9/11 coming," he told the court. "He's a Muslim."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Thomas told Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren that Qadri is a flight risk who had $350 in his bank account in December. But after the first investment of $1.4 million, Qadri allegedly spent $500,000 in a few weeks.
Of the $5 million invested with Qadri, the government seized less than $3 million, Thomas told Kurren. "That leaves a balance of $2 million. Where is that money?" he asked.
Green believes the federal prosecutor's request to detain his client is disproportionate to the financial crimes he has been charged with and that such a request is usually reserved for other kinds of crime such as in a drug conspiracy case.
"We're treating this as if he's some kind of evil human being," Green told Kurren at Qadri's detention hearing yesterday.
Both Qadri and his wife, Patricia Roszkowski, are devout Muslims and naturalized U.S. citizens. Qadri was born in Kashmir, India. His 43-year-old wife, who is five months pregnant and was seated in the courtroom wearing a traditional head covering, is a Sri Lankan native.
Roszkowski, who is also accused of wire and credit fraud, is free on $100,000 bail.
Thomas contended Qadri is a flight risk with no job and no ties to the community, and questioned how he could pay the $20,000 monthly rent on his Hawaii Loa Ridge home. He also said Qadri gave his father, his proposed custodian, $80,000.
Thomas said the missing investment money could be used to escape and that Qadri has "associates out there who can manage this scheme." He alleged more "people are going to suffer so Qadri could live a lavish lifestyle."
Green countered the crimes Qadri is charged with have nothing to do with the $5 million and said the alleged victim in the indictment never paid any of the $100 million.
Green pleaded that his client be released to his wife, his 4-year-old daughter and his parents, who came to his side from Virginia.
Green promised to obtain a property bond on Qadri's parents' Virginia home.
Kurren will rule Wednesday whether Qadri will be allowed home detention rather than stay in a halfway house.
Qadri, president and chief executive officer of Amasse Capital LLC, Roszkowski, its chief financial officer, and two others tried to get a single investor to give them $100 million to invest in bond trading, promising a minimum 60 percent annual return, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 1, federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, raided Amasse's downtown office and searched Qadri's Hawaii Loa Ridge house and former Kahala home.
