Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia unsealed the indictment of a man who was returned from Egypt to the United States on Dec. 14 to face fraud and money laundering charges.
According to court documents and statements made during his initial appearance, Ahmed El Khebki, 62, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Egypt and Sudan, was returned to the United States by Egyptian authorities. According to court filings, El Khebki and his co-conspirators carried out a scheme to defraud the Kuwaiti Embassy Health Office in Washington, D.C., which arranged and paid for services provided by U.S. medical providers to Kuwaiti citizens who traveled to the United States for medical care. El Khebki and his co-conspirators submitted fraudulent invoices to the Kuwait Embassy Health Office, where other members of the conspiracy signed checks drawn off the Health Office’s U.S. bank account made payable to shell companies created as part of the scheme. In 2014, El Khebki fled the United States. In 2016, two former employees of the Health Office pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiring with El Khebki and others to launder money embezzled from the Health Office.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Ray Villanueva of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C. made the announcement.
The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security thanked Interpol and Egyptian authorities for their assistance in apprehending El Khebki and returning him to the United States. The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Section also provided significant assistance.
HSI Washington, D.C. is investigating this case.
Senior Trial Attorney Jonathan T. Baum and Trial Attorney Shai D. Bronshtein of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.