Staying with the Story
Our Columbus bureau has been in the lead on this story from the get-go, starting in May 2010 when we detailed then-Deputy Treasurer Amer Ahmad’s ties with bank lobbyist M. Noure Alo. The bureau has brought you details and insights into the bribery and kickback scheme run by Ahmad and his co-conspirators and Ahmad’s bold, clandestine escape to Pakistan. You can read past stories on this case at MyDaytonDailyNews.com
Amer Ahmad Timeline
May 2008: Democrat Richard Cordray hires Ahmad as chief financial officer in the Ohio Treasurer's office.
Feb 27, 2009: Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce, a Democrat, promotes Ahmad to deputy treasurer.
July 2009: Ahmad recommends that Doug Hampton, his personal financial adviser and high school pal, be included on the state trader list.
October 2009: Hampton starts executing state trades, eventually making $3,212,878 on 360 trades.
Dec. 18, 2009: Hampton pays a fictitious invoice for $132,622 from attorney M. Noure Alo, who has personal ties to Ahmad.
Dec. 24, 2009: Ahmad re-writes the state's investment strategy, calling for more trades among a handful of traders, including Hampton.
Jan. 4, 2010: Alo's wife is hired as Ahmad's secretary.
March 29, 2010: Alo's lobbying client, State Street Bank, wins a state contract to oversee $20 billion invested globally.
March 30, 2010: Hampton sends $100,000 to a lawn business co-owned by Ahmad and Joseph Chiavaroli.
May 23, 2010: Dayton Daily News publishes a story about the personal ties between Alo and Ahmad and the banking contract.
Aug. 28, 2010: Hampton sends $300,000 to the lawn business.
November 2010: Boyce loses election to Republican Josh Mandel and Boyce is notified of an FBI investigation.
Jan. 3, 2011: A comprehensive subpoena for records is delivereed to the treasurer's office.
April 2011: Ahmad is appointed comptroller for the city of Chicago in the Rahm Emanuel administration.
Dec. 2, 2011: FBI sends a second subpoena to the treasurer's office.
July 2013: Ahmad resigns from city of Chicago.
Dec. 23, 2013: Ahmad changes to a guilty plea and agrees to forfeit $3.2 million.
April 23, 2014: Ahmad flees the United States.
April 24, 2014: Ahmad's wife files for a protective order against him, saying he has attempted suicide, has become violent and abusive.
April 25, 2014: U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson signs an arrest warrant for Ahmad.
April 27, 2014: Ahmad is stopped in an airport in Lahore for traveling on bogus documents.
Nov. 10, 2014: State Street Bank discloses that the SEC and DOJ have issued subpoenas regarding its use of lobbyists to solicit public buisness.
Nov. 12, 2014: Watson sentences Alo to 48 months in prison.
Nov. 13, 2014: Watson sentences Hampton to 45 months in prison.
Dec. 1, 2014: Watson sentences Chiavaroli to 18 months in prison and Ahmad to 15 years in prison.
Aug. 26, 2015: Federal authorities escort Ahmad from Pakistan to Columbus, Ohio.
The Players
Amer Ahmad, former deputy treasurer, an Ivy League-educated Canton native who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and bribery and agreed to $3.2 million in restitution, fled to Pakistan; sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison.
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M. Noure Alo, Columbus area immigration attorney, Ahmad's personal friend, his wife worked as Ahmad's secretary; pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting wire fraud. Now serving 48 months in federal prison.
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Doug Hampton, who attended North Canton Hoover High School with Ahmad, served as Ahmad's personal financial adviser and operator of Hampton Capital Financial Management; pleaded guilty to money laundering, conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud. Now serving 45 months in federal prison.
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Joseph Chiavaroli, owner of Going Green Landscapes and Lawn Care, allowed Ahmad to invest $150,000 into his business; pleaded guilty to money laundering. Now serving 18 months in federal prison.
Federal authorities brought fugitive Amer Ahmad, the mastermind behind a bribery and kickback scheme in the Ohio Treasurer’s office, back to the United States on Wednesday through a series of flights between Pakistan and Columbus.
Ahmad, 40, is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson at 10 a.m. Friday.
“Amer Ahmad abused the public’s trust and ran halfway across the globe to hide,” said FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Angela Byers in a written statement. “Tenacious FBI special agents and investigators continued to pursue Ahmad until he could be returned to face justice. Now he will have plenty of time to reflect on his corrupt actions while serving out his lengthy prison sentence.”
“Today’s extradition demonstrates the never-ceasing efforts by investigators at home and abroad to bring to justice those who abuse positions of power to defraud,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark D’Alessandro in a written release.
On Dec. 23, 2013, Ahmad pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. He was free while awaiting sentencing and living in Chicago with his wife and their three young children.
Walked across U.S. border with $175,000 in cash
He flew to San Diego, took a taxi to the Mexico border, walked into Tijuana with more than $175,000 in cash, hopped a flight to Mexico City and then arranged for a fake passport, according to a diary Ahmad kept during his escape.
When he landed in Lahore, Pakistani officials detained him for traveling on bogus documents. Pakistani authorities released to the media Ahmad’s diary found on his laptop, titled “Journey to Freedom: Who said escaping injustice would be easy?”
It is unclear what prompted Pakistani officials to release Ahmad to U.S. authorities now after detaining him for more than 16 months. Last year, U.S. Department of Justice attorneys had asked Pakistan to return Ahmad but they noted that the last extradition to the U.S. occurred in June 2006 — 11 years after that request was made.
So, on Dec. 1, 2014, Watson sentenced Ahmad in absentia to 15 years in prison — the maximum — for his role as architect of the biggest public corruption scheme in Ohio treasury history. At sentencing, Watson called Ahmad narcissistic, disturbed and phenomenally arrogant.
“I can’t believe the utter gall of this man to operate with the impunity that he operated,” Watson said of Ahmad at sentencing. “I can’t believe that there weren’t others in the state treasurer’s office who would have had red flags going off all over the place that would have blown the whistle on this activity — that should have blown the whistle on this activity.”
Federal prosecutor Eric Gibson said during sentencing “because Mr. (Kevin) Boyce was not the most sophisticated treasurer … he relied heavily on Mr. Ahmad, ultimately resulting in Mr. Ahmad effectively running the treasury, period. And this man sold his office over and over and over again.”
FBI investigation
Ahmad, the son of Pakistani immigrants, was born in Akron and grew up in the Canton area. He holds degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University and was widely seen as a rising star in Democratic power circles.
Former Ohio Attorney General and Treasurer Richard Cordray, who now serves in the Obama administration, hired Ahmad into the treasurer’s office in May 2008. When Democrat Kevin Boyce took over, Boyce promoted Ahmad to deputy treasurer. Once Boyce lost election to Republican Josh Mandel in November 2010, Ahmad moved to be comptroller of the city of Chicago for Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff.
But at the end of the Boyce administration, FBI agents opened an investigation and subpoenaed documents from the Ohio treasurer’s office. Initially they were looking at ties between Ahmad and immigration attorney M. Noure Alo, who was hired as a lobbyist for Boston-based State Street Bank. Alo had no other lobbying experience or clients and State Street Bank was up for a big contract with the treasurer’s office. The bank won the contract, overseeing about $20 billion in pension assets invested around the globe.
While looking at that relationship between Ahmad and Alo, federal authorities uncovered a kickback scheme. Ahmad authored a new investment policy for the office and steered work to a high school friend, Doug Hampton of Hampton Capital Management. Hampton made $3.2 million in commissions off the work and kicked back $523,000 to Ahmad, Alo and a third man, Joseph Chiavaroli.
Hampton is serving 45 months, Alo 48 months and Chiavaroli 18 months in federal prison.
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