http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...11502,0,1077481.photo?coll=orl-home-headlines I-Drive shops raided By Jim Leusner, Pedro Ruz Gutierrez and Henry Pierson Curtis | Sentinel Staff Writers Posted November 15, 2002 Email this story to a friend Printer friendly version RELATED STORIES Arab community charges ethnic bias Nov 15, 2002 Businessman was honored for charitable work Nov 15, 2002 Jesse Maali Nov 15, 2002 Mohammed Saleem Khanani Nov 15, 2002 Mahmood Jamal Nov 15, 2002 Khan Aslam Nov 15, 2002 Saeedullah Awan Nov 15, 2002 About 100 agents swarmed across an International Drive business empire and burst into an Isleworth mansion Thursday, arresting a wealthy and prominent leader of the local Arab-American community and four others on charges of money-laundering and immigration violations. Later, in federal court, a prosecutor hinted at more ominous connections to come in the case, saying that millionaire Palestinian-American businessman and philanthropist Jesse Issa Maali should be held without bail because he has "financial ties to Middle Eastern organizations who advocate violence." Those words elicited an angry growl from about 60 courtroom onlookers gathered in support of Maali and fueled outrage at a news conference later during which Maali's lawyer accused the government of making "obscene allegations" and unfairly targeting Arab-Americans. Charged in a 55-count federal indictment unsealed Thursday were Maali, 57, of Windermere and one of his longtime business partners, Mohammed Saleem Khanani, 51, of Orange County. The two operate a chain of clothing stores, and T-shirt and gift shops throughout the area including Big Bargain World, the Sports Dominator, Jeans Unlimited Inc., Denim Unlimited Inc., Barakat Corp. and Barakat International Inc. The morning raids hit a dozen businesses in the International Drive and U.S. Highway 192 tourist corridors as well as Maali's $3 million, lakefront estate in the exclusive Isleworth community in west Orange County. Officers from at least seven law-enforcement agencies could be seen hauling boxes of records out of the businesses, and the 10,500-square-foot, seven-bedroom mansion was still sealed off with crime-scene tape by late afternoon. 'Operation Thunderdome' The probe was dubbed "Operation Thunderdome" in an apparent reference to the blue-domed roofs on many of Maali's shops. The charges alleged that from January 1999 to December 2001, Maali and Khanani used their businesses to lure 53 illegal immigrants -- primarily from Asia and northern Africa -- to work for their stores in the Orlando area. The indictment said the businessmen paid the employees through four "shell companies" to help conceal the illicit activities from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Other documents filed in the case called the operation "a large criminal enterprise." Prominent businessman Maali is a well-known local fund-raiser for Middle Eastern charities, and was named an honorary Orange County deputy sheriff in 1996. He was cited for "exemplary citizenship, support of the Sheriff's Office and dedication to the principles of law and order and justice in America." Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, who gave Maali that certificate, was involved at the very beginning of the three-year investigation that culminated in Thursday's raids of a dozen south Orlando and Kissimmee-area businesses. Beary and Carolyn Adams, head of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Orlando, said the probe had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. Beary, who said his agency has worked to forge close ties with the Arab-American community, noted that the local Arabs assisted in the investigation. "No one was targeting anybody," Beary said. "If you're doing crime, we're going to come after you." Also charged in the indictment were Big Bargain World general manager Mahmood Jamal, 48; store manager Saeedullah Awan, 43; and store driver Khan Aslam, 56, all of Orange County. Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of 17 bank accounts controlled by Maali, Khanani and several of their companies. All five men face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the money-laundering-conspiracy charge; 10 years and a $250,000 fine on an immigration-conspiracy charge; and 10 years and a $250,000 fine on each of the 53 immigration counts. At a bail hearing Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Hawkins Collazo asked that all five men be held without bail -- a request usually reserved for violent offenders, large-scale drug dealers or defendants likely to flee. It was Collazo who made the statement linking Maali's finances to Middle Eastern violence, but she did not elaborate. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the federal government has shut down three major Muslim charities nationwide, accusing all of them of funding global terrorist activities. Collazo's remarks caused such a stir in the packed hearing that U.S. Magistrate David Baker had to shout for order in the court. Maali attorney Mark NeJame said Collazo was wrongfully tarring a U.S. citizen who employs 800 workers, has 100 local relatives and is no threat to the community. "They [prosecutors] do this every time, and every time there has been nothing to it," NeJame said after the hearing. Baker ordered all five men held at the Seminole County Jail until Monday so three other defendants can be appointed lawyers. Affidavit: Pay was in cash Three other Maali employees were arrested Thursday on immigration violations stemming from the raids. Said M. Eladlani, Muzaffar Shuja and his wife, Syeda, also were held without bail. According to the search warrant affidavit, 80 percent of Bargain World's employees were illegal aliens before Sept. 11, 2001. The businesses did not withhold income tax or Social Security payments for those workers and paid them in cash. Fear of post-Sept. 11 scrutiny prompted the stores to drop the percentage of illegal workers to 50 percent, the search warrant stated. The document said stores also had a system to warn employees of any immigration raids, using their public-announcement systems to broadcast the code phrase "Pick up line 7." Twenty three of the illegal workers listed in the indictment are from Pakistan. Others came from countries ranging from Moldavia, Egypt, Morocco, India, Italy, Peru and Britain, the indictment said.Before and after the hearing, several spectators -- many of Middle Eastern heritage -- complained that the charges were ethnically motivated, and were particularly upset that the raids came during Islam's holy month of Ramadan. "To them, every Palestinian is a terrorist," said Mohammad Lutfi, a prominent Palestinian-American businessman in Orlando. "Sending $100 to help your family on the West Bank is a terrorist act." 3-year investigation Thursday's raids were spearheaded by a small, highly secret group of federal, state and local agents, who for three years quietly investigated a myriad of criminal activity in Central Florida's Arab-American community. The agents staked out tourist businesses and their employees and rummaged through trash cans in an attempt to track money flowing in and out of the country. Court records show that the investigation began with a Federal Bureau of Investigation and Orange County Sheriff's Office inquiry into stolen cars in 1999. That probe produced several cooperating witnesses, who in turn led a multiagency task force down a trail of cocaine dealing and illicit sales of cold medicine used to make methamphetamine. Along the way, investigators snared a corrupt Orange County sheriff's captain, Victor Thomas, and several other department officers who were fired or forced out of the agency in 2001. It is still unclear exactly how the probe reached into the world of Central Florida's underground work force of illegal aliens who help support the tourism industry. After the investigation was in its early stages three years ago, investigators from other agencies were called in to assist in following vehicles of suspects as they traveled across Florida, but because of strict secrecy, were never told whom they were tracking or why, according to sources. Many of the same agents who worked on the Victor Thomas case were sitting in court Thursday, including FBI agent Stephen Thomas, who is a counter-terrorism specialist who previously was assigned to CIA headquarters. He would not comment on the case. Maali is a multimillionaire who made a fortune through a dozen corporations involved in real estate, restaurants and other businesses, according to friends and records. Maali left the Middle East as a young man and opened grocery stores in Caracas, Venezuela, in the 1960s and later supermarkets in New York before moving to Central Florida in the mid-1980s. Once here, he opened several lucrative Ponderosa Steak House restaurants, started the Big Bargain World chain and more recently launched other lunch and ice-cream shops. In the Arab-American community, he is recognized as a vocal supporter, writer and expert on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. On the cover of a 2001 newsletter for the Arab American Community Center of Central Florida, he is shown speaking before hundreds at a solidarity rally in June 2001 at the Lake Eola amphitheater. Inside the newsletter, Maali is thanked for donating $25,000 of the $200,000 raised by the center to equip a Palestinian hospital emergency room in Ramallah on the West Bank. He also is mentioned as a collection agent for donations to the Palestine Aid Society to help support suffering families there. Last December, after a federal crackdown on Muslim charities, Maali told an Orlando Sentinel reporter he was not connected to any extremists or radicals through his philanthropy. "No. No. It's humanitarian aid," he said. "I don't have any relationship whatsoever with any of those groups." Maali's partner, Khanani, also is a former officer in the now-defunct, Orlando for-profit company, Muslim Enterprises, which ceased operations in 1999, corporate records show. He was a director in a now-defunct, local charity called Islamic Global Relief Inc. when it operated in east Orange County from June 1993 to August 1994, and an officer in another local, non-profit organization, the Muslim Education Fund in 1993. 3rd large raid in decade Thursday's arrests were the third large-scale raids made in the International Drive and U.S. 192 areas during the past 10 years involving tourist-related businesses. In August 2000, two dozen people including several gift-shop owners and employees, were arrested in a nationwide drug sweep dubbed "Operation Mountain Express." About 140 people -- many of them Jordanians and Palestinians, according to authorities -- were connected to the methamphetamine-manufacturing business. Federal prosecutors alleged that millions in profits were tracked to banks in the Middle East. In 1992, eight men -- mostly gift-shop owners of Pakistani and Indian descent -- were arrested in an international sting operation and charged with conspiring to launder $490,000 for undercover agents working for drug dealers. Jim Leusner can be reached at 407-420-5411 or jleusner@orlandosentinel.com. Pedro Ruz Gutierrez can be reached at 407-420-5620 or pruz@orlandosentinel.com. Henry Pierson Curtis can be reached at 407-420-5257 or hcurtis@orlandosentinel.com. I work for a competitor on I-Drive (international drive). If you've never been to Orlando, I drive is where all the tourists hang out while on vacation. Disney, Universal, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Guiness Book of World Records, Belz Outlets, and Kissimee are all part of I-Drive. When I didnt have a product, I have been sending customers to this store for a few years now. My assistant managers all claimed that in a way, we kinda supported terrorism (if the allegations prove true) which kinda messed me up. Anyhow if their guilty, good for those bastids.
