Courtesy: U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia One of the two men accused of posing as Interior Ministry agents may have been deceived, along with several Secret Service agents, into believing that his co-accused was indeed a DHS agent, a defense lawyer told a court on Monday. . “The weight of the evidence against Mr. [Haider] “Ali is not strong,” Ali’s lawyer wrote in a statement to the US District Court in Washington. “It is not clear whether Mr. Ali was ever represented as a federal government official or whether any such statements were found to be false by him,” wrote attorney Gregory Smith. Smith’s testimony states that a review of Ali’s multiple interviews with a U.S. postal inspector last month “suggests that Mr. Ali may well have naively but honestly believed” that his co-accused, Arian Taherzadeh, was a Homeland Security agent. “and that the work he did for Taherzadeh’s company (USSP) probably included work that this company got from DHS.” Ali’s 35-year-old’s testimony came ahead of a detention hearing for Ali and Taherzadeh scheduled for a retrial later Monday. The men were arrested last week. Prosecutors want the two men, who remain in jail, to be held without bail, citing dangers to the community. However, the lawyers of the accused in the testimonies on Monday asked a judge to release them on bail, saying that the prosecutors overestimate the seriousness of the case. Ali’s lawyer said he had four very young children and was “very much needed back home after his wife underwent surgery just last Friday”. The lawyer also noted that even if Ali was convicted of the felony E offense he faces, the federal guidelines for the conviction would most likely amount to a prison sentence of only zero to six months. He would also be entitled to a probationary sentence, the lawyer added.
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Read more about CNBC political coverage: Prosecutors say that since the men were arrested last week – amid allegations that they gave gifts to intelligence agents and provided two such agents with free apartments typically renting up to $ 48,000 a year – “the story is getting worse” as investigators appear. Additional information. “Due to the dizzying pace of the investigation, there is a lot of evidence that we do not yet know,” prosecutors wrote in a court case filed Sunday. “But the facts we know about the accused – that they lied about their identities for years, stored a cache of weapons and surveillance equipment in their apartments, violated law enforcement agents in sensitive positions and tried to cover up their crimes – leave without that their release poses a threat to public safety. “Both defendants should be detained.” Secret Service agents protecting First Lady Jill Biden and the White House were among those deceived by the men’s alleged lies that they were DHS agents. The defendants also had passwords that could allow them to enter all hundreds of apartments in the Washington DC Navy Yard, where they own five apartments, prosecutors said. Real law enforcement agents occupy some of these apartments. Prosecutors also said Ali had allegedly told witnesses in the case that he had links to ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service. Four intelligence agents have been released as a result of the case. Taherzadeh’s lawyer Michelle Peterson, in a testimony Monday seeking bail, said: “Apart from speculation and government rhetoric, there is insufficient evidence that Mr Taherzadeh would be either a danger obstruction of justice or danger to the community if he was released from prison “. “The government has failed to prove that this is an offense that can be prosecuted in the first instance or, even, that there are no release conditions that can be reasonably ensured,” Peterson wrote. Law enforcement officers obtained two videos of Taherzadeh firing a pistol and a gun at a shooting range believed to be in North Virginia. In one video, Taherzadeh appears to be wearing a long-sleeved shirt with USSS insignia in his hand. ONE Source: US Lawyer Washington The search for Ali and 40-year-old Taherzadeh began last month when a U.S. postal inspector questioned them about a mail carrier’s attack on their apartment building in Washington, which they believed were witnesses. The postal inspector was informed that the men were DHS agents and were represented as agents to other residents. In his initial interview March 16, Ali told the inspector, “I am a researcher with the USSP Special Investigation Unit, part of the DHS,” Ali’s lawyer, Smith, wrote in court on Monday. The USSP is the United States Special Police, a company owned by Taherzadeh. It is neither an official law enforcement service nor part of the Ministry of Homeland Security. In a subsequent interview on March 21, the inspector asked Ali if the USSP was part of the DHS. He replied, “As I understand it. We are doing research on DHS.” After the inspector told him that the USSP was not part of the DHS, Ali replied that he had “spoken” as far as I know “. Later that day, Ali was asked why he described Taherzadeh as a special agent in the DHS Internal Security Investigation Unit. “It’s HSI,” Ali told the postal inspector. When the inspector told Ali that Taherzadeh was not in fact an HSI agent, Ali replied, “I understand that he is an HSI. He is conducting extensive research in DC.” Lawyer Smith wrote: “And why should Mr. Ali not have believed in Taherzadeh?” The lawyer noted that prosecutors said that “many experienced police officers … fell for this trick”. “If all these experienced federal agents, with years or even decades of experience, did not understand Taherzadeh’s claims, why is it fair to expect more from Mr. Ali, a college graduate without a college degree and none of the official their training? ”Smith asked in the deposition. Prosecutors in a testimony Sunday suggested more serious charges against Ali and Taherzadeh. “In the last day, the government has confirmed more worrying events: the ammunition cartridges seized from Ali’s Glock 19 and Taherzadeh’s Sig Sauer were illegal, high-capacity cartridges; and, after Taherzadeh was informed of the investigation, either he appears “Ali may have made further attempts to conceal evidence, including trying to corruptly seek the help of a federal law enforcement agent,” prosecutors wrote. This testimony stated that a former US Marine appeared in recent days to tell investigators that the duo tried to recruit him based on their fake DHS credentials. He also said he had seen illegal weapons in the presence of Taherzadeh and Ali, including an AR-15 / M4 assault rifle with an illegal suppressor. None of the men were allowed to carry a gun outside their homes, the statement said. Court records show that Tishman Speyer, the real estate giant who owns the apartment complex where the defendants kept their five apartments, won an absentee verdict in January for more than $ 222,000 in unpaid rent for those five apartments. The lawsuit was settled out of court in the United States Special Police, Taherzadeh’s company, which never paid rent for the apartments after renting them out in late 2020, according to a lawsuit.
