Mozambique: A night of hardship for the displaced
Jean Boustani (file photo)
A Privinvest Group salesman accused by the U.S. of taking part in a $2 billion fraud is a flight risk, a federal judge ruled in denying his bid to be released on a $20 million bond.
Jean Boustani, 40, a Lebanese national who lives in Beirut, was arrested last month in New York after being expelled from the Dominican Republic, where he was going for vacation. Along with three former Credit Suisse Group AG bankers, he is accused of taking part in a fraud involving loans to Mozambique.
Boustani was a “central organising figure” in the fraud that resulted in at least $200 million in bribes and kickbacks being paid to Mozambique government officials and investment bankers, according to prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.
U.S. District Judge William Kuntz II said on Monday that Boustani, who’s also a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, has no ties to the U.S. and faces a possible 40-year prison term if convicted.
“Having carefully evaluated defendant’s bail proposal under the circumstances of this case, the court is convinced no conditions can reasonably assure defendant’s appearance throughout the pendency of this case,” Kuntz said.
Defence lawyers Randall Jackson and Michael Schachter had argued that if freed on bond, Boustani was willing to remain in the U.S. under 24-hour watch by private security guards he would have paid for and to live in an undisclosed apartment in New York.
The case is U.S. v. Boustani, 18-cr-681, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
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