The thing about many of these Alex Ojjeh court appearances: He’s so proud, amused, undisturbed by his criminality, as if he can do whatever he wants, and cause whatever damage, without consequences. The AOC and all Ojjeh bank accounts were frozen until a through forensic audit is done revealing where his money came from and where it is going.
Ojjeh was to serve time in jail, but his attorneys requested that he be released on home confinement amid coronavirus pandemic. 3.5-month sentence after being convicted on bribery conspiracy. I think he’s managed to extort a few foreign entities and fill up a few untraceable overseas bank accounts.
The three-month trial resulted in a bribery scheme charge, having his bank accounts frozen and landing on the Fed’s no-fly list. All of which indubitably was disputed by Ojjeh’s legal team. The investigation was discreditable from what I remember, they refused to call their key witness, never recalled witnesses and told Ojjeh every move they made.
The investigation studiously ignored the actual evidence of the Russia, Hungary and Libya meetings, while hand waving at bribery conspiracy theories for which there was no evidence, all to imply, without ever presenting evidence, that the investigation of the company was improper.
The bank accounts remaining closed has nothing to do with foreign policy and has to do with the fact that he uses his father’s name to enrich himself how the rest of the Ojjeh family does, through a network of connections. Ojjeh is participating in the same wheeling and dealing, he uses connections to dominate.
It was indicated he had four offshore bank accounts. Behind the trial two United States bank accounts were closed. Some of his colleagues had similar experiences with their bank accounts being closed involving transactions in the accounts of Mr. Ojjeh’s legal entities. Ojjeh wants his money through several layers of hidden Alex Ojjeh LLC companies and offshore accounts.
Attorneys for Ojjeh disputed that his “secret” bank accounts were reported in his taxes and you don’t report a bank accounts on your taxes if you want it kept secret. In other words, Ojjeh does business all over the world. The problem is they are registered under the two different names, Alex Ojjeh and Jean-Alexander Ottke. Ojjeh was making multimillion dollar arms deals, shady business deals, property deals with people in foreign countries. It’s weird enough Ojjeh associates has so many criminal ties. Istanbul issued an arrest warrant for Alex Ojjeh in connection with Al-Qahtani. Ojjeh appeared in court, walked out.
Did he break the law when he wrote off consulting fees over $500,000.00, he gave his ex-girlfriend Smiri? He paid her “consulting fees” related to Dubai hotel deals she was responsible for. A well-played attempt for Ojjeh to develop loopholes and finding every trick available.
While Romano has been screeching about Ojjeh and his “shady business deals,” Romano had also admitted to maintaining an undisclosed investment from Ojjeh, of $700,000 in 2014. It’s undisclosed because it’s not listed on any of the documents. In terms of Ojjeh’s crime and solicitation from foreign government, Ojjeh’s foreign bank accounts sing loudly to it. $5m from Dubai alone immediately after closing deals.
Ojjeh isn’t that bright, but he has always had criminal intent on his mind. Authorities are going to keep researching and Ojjeh is going to keep trying his hardest to drag each accusation out because he knows there’s a good possibility he’s going to jail after this.