Federal Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles has denied defendant William B. Aossey Jr.’s motion to continue the trial for a third time over “confusion” about discovery and his attorney’s busy trial schedule.
Instead, in an order that went against the defendant, Judge Scoles ruled Thursday that the trial will begin as scheduled in U.S. District Court for Northern Iowa.
“Defendant has had more than eight months to prepare for trial,” Scoles said. “The current trial date was set more than four months ago. While Defendant’s counsel maintains a busy trial schedule, that does not constitute good cause for a continuance in this case.”
The federal magistrate said the “confusion” cited by the defense does not justify delaying the trial.
“The Government has been providing discovery material in this case since shortly after the indictment was returned. The ‘missing’ discovery was apparently provided approximately three months ago,” the judge said.
At issue, according to Scoles, are witness statements and records from the company Aossey founded, Midamar Corporation. The judge noted that the defendant has always had access to the Midamar records.
The government has produced 303 gigabytes of discovery — more than 800,000 documents, according to the defense.
Aossey, Midamar’s founder and former director, is represented by prominent Chicago attorney Haytham Faraj, who has defended numerous American Muslims in newsworthy cases. His pre-trial motion to dismiss certain charges in the current case offers some further explanation for the criminal litigation.
Faraj notes that his client is charged with mail and wire fraud in connection with selling misbranded meat. In addition, he is charged with making false statements on export certificates regarding shipments to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Wire fraud is charged based on the transfer of funds to Midamar to pay for those shipments. The transfer went from Midamar’s business account to Tri-Bin Inc., the entity that owns Miramar’s corporate offices and warehouse.
The government is seeking forfeiture of real or personal property derived from the wire fraud and money laundering charges from 2007 to 2010, a time when Aossey was a company director.
“Specifically, the government alleges that Midamar employees intentionally removed labels reflecting the slaughterhouse of origin, which reflected ‘PM’ as the slaughterhouse, an unlicensed facility in Malaysia and Indonesia, and replaced it with a label fraudulently reflecting the beef had been slaughtered at O.P.C., a licensed facility in Malaysia and Indonesia, in order to import that beef into those counties,” the indictment states.
Aossey is also being charged over Midamar receiving payments for products via wire transfers and using falsified export and lettterhead certificates.
But Faraj argued that no loss is alleged. Import duties are not lower on Halal beef products than non-Halal beef products, meaning the U.S. was not “deprived of revenue.” He says the indictment does not charge any theft occurred.
Faraj makes the argument that “… although the indictment alleges that the Defendant conspired to fraudulently certify products as meeting the Halal export requirements of third party Muslim counties, the indictment does not allege that this failure constituted a theft of honest services under (federal law).”
He says the wire fraud and money laundering allegations “must rise and fall” with the mail and wire fraud charges.
The charges against Aossey, by citation and title, are:
- 18:371 CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE UNITED STATES with Forfeiture Allegation
(1) - 18:371 CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE UNITED STATES w/Forfeiture Allegation
(1s) - 21:611(b)(5) and 18:2 FORGERY OF OFFICIAL DEVICE, MARK OR CERTIFICATE
(2-8) - 21:611(b)(5) and 18:2 FORGERY OF DEVICES, MARKS, LABELS, CERTIFICATES
(2s-8s) - 18:1343 and 2 FRAUD BY WIRE, RADIO, OR TELEVISION with Forfeiture Allegation
(9-15) - 18:1343 and 2 WIRE FRAUD w/Forfeiture Allegation
(9s-15s) - 18:1957(a) and 2 ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS with Forfeiture Allegation
(16) - 18:1957(a) and 2 ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS w/Forfeiture Allegation
(16s) - 18:1957(a) and 2 ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS with Forfeiture Allegation
(17-18) - 18:1957(a) and 2 ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS w/Forfeiture Allegation
(17s) - 18:1957(a) and 2 ENGAGING IN MONETARY TRANSACTIONS w/Forfeiture Allegation
(18s) - 18:1956(h) MONEY LAUNDERING – POSTAL, INTERSTATE WIRE, RADIO, ETC.
(19) - 18:1956(h) MONEY LAUNDERING – POSTAL, INTERSTATE WIRE, RADIO, ETC. w/Forfeiture Allegation
(19s)
One week after Aossey’s trial will be the government’s deadline for responding to the motion to dismiss charges against his sons Jalel Aossey and Yahya Nasser Aossey, Midamar Corporation, and Islamic Services of America on a similar set of federal felony charges.
That second case involving misbranding Halal beef exports is currently scheduled for trial in September. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty.
