Little Rock, Arkansas – Jane W. Duke, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced this afternoon that Eyad Hassan, Linda Hassan, Fuad Hasan, and Amjad Mutie Kattom were all sentenced to charges relating to having structured currency transactions. On September 19, 2007, Eyad and Linda Hassan, husband and wife, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to structure currency transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements. That same date, Fuad Hasan and Amjad Mutie Kattom pleaded guilty to individual charges of structuring. Today, Chief United States District Judge J. Leon Holmes sentenced the individuals as follows:

Eyad Hassan, age 36, Bryant, Arkansas -- 3 years probation

Linda Hassan, age 30, Bryant, Arkansas -- 3 years probation

Fuad Hasan, age 32, Bryant, Arkansas, 3 years probation

Amjad Mutie Kattom, age 28, Little Rock, Arkansas, 3 years probation (to include 1 month home confinement) and a $2,000 fine

In addition to the sentences noted above, $80,000 in currency was forfeited to the United States of America. It is anticipated that the bulk of this money will be disbursed to the Pine Bluff Police Department under the Department of Justice's asset sharing program in recognition of the valuable assistance provided by the PBPD in this investigation.

Federal banking laws require banks to record the transaction and obtain identification information for individuals purchasing bank checks of $3,000 or more. In order to evade those reporting requirements, individuals often purchase multiple checks in structured amounts slightly less than $3,000.

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U.S. Attorney’s Office 03/07/2008

Through two convenience stores owned and operated by Eyad and Linda Hassan, the defendants obtained cash to purchase official bank checks in structured amounts of just under $3,000. To avoid reporting requirements, the indictment alleges that defendants repeatedly made multiple structured check purchases on the same day. For example, on May 12, 2005, the defendants purchased six checks in the amounts of $2,900; $2,800; $2,800; $2,800; $2,900; and $2,760. On May 19, 2005, they purchased six more checks in the amounts of $2,800; $2,900; $2,800; $2,900; $2,800; and $2,600. The indictment states that the checks were ultimately sent overseas to the Middle East.

The case is the result of an ongoing coordinated investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force (FBI JTTF), including the FBI, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI), the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Officials from various departments of state and local government, including the Pine Bluff Police Department, also participated in the investigation.