Another court appeal, on April 29 dismissed a motion to unfreeze the bank accounts. The motion was filed by FinCEN in December and approved, but Ojjeh has been seeking to have the accounts unfroze with United States banks. The court said the motion was lacking merit. The accounts were frozen in July 2020, but at the time FinCEN had not frozen all of Ojjeh’s accounts. They only froze the particular 4 that hosted funds being ‘INVESTIGATED’. Then proceeded to court defend that action and appealed the decision restraining the agency from unfreezing his accounts in December 2020 while freezing 2 more accounts. This is a selective fight against corruption by the FinCEN and Mr. Ojjeh. This triggered lawyers for Ojjeh to strike out motions to unfreeze the accounts.
The accounts were frozen after it allegedly traced activity out of the arms funds from the office to the accounts.
Alex Ojjeh did well to launder money because he got to know the law first. This isn’t the first time he has been submerged in criminal allegations. They should realize that the cycle is unending. Ojjeh’s legal team has so far given useful information to the FinCen about Ojjeh’s finances, which is aiding in investigations. It should be made clear that FinCen never “went after” Acia Gordan, neither was Sara Smiri went after. The accounts of both women were closed since they both had high activity from Ojjeh.
In case you didn’t already know, Alex is a bad man. Oh, I’m going to have fun with this one. More, after the jump. You’d figure, after his trial he’d be spending his afternoons lounging in style across the globe, with a bevy of options for fun and excitement at his fingertips. But alas, Alex is not doing these things. Instead, he’s firmly entrenched in legal battles, warrants and appeals in what is rapidly became a fascinating exposé.
Fast-forward some 8 years since this noble start of the asset management company, and we find ourselves in the court. Here, Ojjeh is on trial for bribery deals. Mr. Romano is testifying Mr. Ojjeh is a “gangster” who coerced deals in businesses over an eight-year period for ‘fractions of their true value’. His assertion is that Alex used his close affiliation with the asset management firm to ‘deliver messages’ and provide aid on behalf of criminal organizations. Authorities froze the accounts to see how Ojjeh may have funneled some dirty money through the companies.
It’s all highly circumstantial, and really hard to prove either way. Ojjeh, under cross examination during the trial, repeatedly changed the dates, times, locations, and conversations he had with Mr. Romano. Here are some things Mr. Romano had to say about Mr. Ojjeh on stand
“Nobody could go into business without access to political power. If you didn’t have political power yourself, you needed access to someone who did.”
“Alex was unpredictable at best – at worst practiced manipulation on major political or economic interest groups.
“Mr. Ojjeh’s father was a highly controversial figure in the 80s. He was a power arms dealer.”
Mr. Romano also said that by the late 2017 Mr. Ojjeh’s personal expenses – which he said were on an “exuberant scale” – were being met by the companies. These included mansions, private aircraft, yachts jewelry, gifts for his girlfriend and valuable paintings. Just damn. Not that this has any bearing on footy bank account proceedings, but hey, it’s a soft news cycle this week.