Former Wall St. Bond Trader Cuts Plea Deal, Will Testify in Arms-Trading Case by Jon Burstein
August 23, 2001
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A former top Wall Street bond trader is ready to cooperate with federal authorities in a money-laundering case arising from a South Florida sting into illegal arms trading. While prosecutors haven't finalized a plea agreement for Kevin Ingram, they revealed at a Wednesday court hearing that he is set to testify against his co-defendants in the convoluted money-laundering case. The case came out of a 31-month investigation that led to the arrests of two New Jersey men who are accused of attempting to buy Stinger missiles and other sophisticated military weaponry for a foreign buyer. Richard Lubin, Ingram's attorney, confirmed that Ingram will likely sign a plea deal on Tuesday but declined to discuss the terms.
Ingram, once a top trader with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, is accused of laundering $350,000 and then agreeing to launder an additional $2.2 million -- all money presented as the proceeds of illegal arms sales. Ingram, 42, of Jersey City, and Connecticut airplane broker Walter Kapij, 44, were arrested June 12 in a Fort Lauderdale hotel room after they agreed to launder the $2.2 million for a federal agent posing as a rogue arms dealer, according to federal authorities. That day, federal authorities also arrested Diaa Mohsen, 57, and Mohammed R. Malik, 52, after an undercover agent showed them an inactive Stinger missile inside a West Palm Beach warehouse, court documents indicate.
Mohsen, of Jersey City, N.J., and Malik, of Watchung, N.J., had spent months talking with undercover agents about buying missiles, grenade launchers, night-vision goggles and possible components for a nuclear weapon, according to court records. The men allegedly said at one point that they were acting as middlemen for a former military official in a foreign country. Both the U.S. Attorney's Office and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have declined to comment on who they think was backing Mohsen and Malik. Both men face two counts of trying to illegally export military weaponry. Mohsen also faces additional money-laundering charges. Kapij, of Wethersfield, Conn., and Mohsen are set to go to trial on the money-laundering charges in November before U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks. Mohsen is charged with helping Ingram launder the $350,000 in two 1999 transactions. Lubin said Ingram would only testify in the money-laundering case and doesn't have any connection with the arms-trading case.
But Mohsen's attorney, Val Rodriguez, said there's more to Ingram than meets the eye. "It will be revealed at trial that he's engaged in illegal activity the government doesn't know about," Rodriguez said. He declined to elaborate. Kapij's attorney, Jim Eisenberg, said prosecutors also revealed Wednesday that they don't intend to call the government's confidential informant in the stings -- Randy Glass -- as a witness in the money-laundering case. Glass, a former Boca Raton jeweler convicted of fraud, had a 20-month sentence reduced to seven months three days after the arrests. Eisenberg and Rodriguez have indicated that Glass' credibility could become a key issue in the money-laundering case.
