Cellphone terror case falls apart, so new ass covering charges filed

[astro]

Defense attorneys outraged as terror case switches to fraud

BAY CITY – Lawyers for three Texas men once accused of plotting to blow up the Mackinac Bridge claim the government is bailing out an overzealous prosecutor by bringing unprecedented charges.

Until Wednesday, even the FBI said the business of buying and altering cell phones – as the men claim was their only motive – was a legal enterprise, and that the only issue was whether proceeds end up in terrorist coffers.

But now, the FBI and U.S. attorneys in Bay City say the entrepreneurial behavior of three Americans of Palestinian descent amounts to fraud, not terrorism.

“Our research shows us that this prosecution is the first of its kind under these circumstances,” the trio’s Dearborn defense attorney, Nabih H. Ayad, and his team said. "This is absolutely out of the realm.

“They’re just trying to get out of the hole they dug for themselves,” he added, referring to a judge’s dismissal Wednesday of the state terrorism charges brought by Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene.

“It’s unfortunate for a credible agency like the FBI and the U.S. attorney to bail out a buddy because they goofed.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Janet Parker from the Bay City office declined comment. She is charging Adham A. Othman, 21, his brother, Louai A. Othman, 23, and their cousin, Maruan A. Muhareb, 18, each with two identical counts of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit goods and money-laundering.

[Boyo_Jim]

No, you are misunderstanding this. They weren’t fraudently reselling cell phones. They wer fraudulently posing as terrorists. :rolleyes: