Firm owner an FBI terrorism informant

The owner of the limousine company linked to the deadliest transportation accident in nine years became an FBI terrorism informant after he was caught trying to defraud the state DMV.

Shahid Hussain (photo), who owns upstate Gansevoort-based Prestige Limousine, began aiding the FBI after he pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge in 2002 for attempting to help immigrants obtain Department of Motor Vehicles licenses by cheating on exams.

A state official confirmed Hussain's bizarre history to the Albany Times Union.

Now, Hussain, 62, faces the prospect of an avalanche of lawsuits and possible criminal charges in the crash that killed 20 people.

“He's deceitful in every way and a total sociopath,” said attorney Sam Braverman, who represented one of the socalled “Newburgh Four” who were convicted of terrorism charges in 2010.

“He's never been held to task for anything ever that I can tell . . . . My guess is that if you tested every vehicle in his fleet, they've all got a defect.”

Court records show that federal prosecutors credited Hussain, a Pakistani immigrant, with providing “substantial assistance” in 2006 when he testified in a drug and fraud case involving 12 people.

He also aided the terrorism sting of an Albany imam, Yassin Aref, and a Bangladeshi pizzeria owner, Mohammed Hossain. The pair were convicted of laundering money for a fake terrorism plot set up by the feds. Each was sentenced in 2007 to 15 years in prison.

Hussain also served as an FBI rat in the controversial case of the Newburgh Four, who were arrested in 2009.

In that case, Hussain posed as a wealthy radicalized Muslim and befriended four men eventually convicted of plotting to shoot down U.S. military planes with a Stinger missile and set off bombs at Jewish targets in Riverdale, the Bronx.

The government faced criticism for the case because Hussain was seen as organizing the scheme and urging on the participants. Nevertheless, the four men, James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, were convicted with help from Hussain's testimony.

“He's a very elf-dealing, manipulative, pathological liar,” aid attorney Kerry Lawrence, who represented Cromitie.

“To the extent anything involves how he operated his business, it wouldn't shock me that he . . . in some way led to this tragedy.”

Hussain resurfaced again as an alleged informant in a Pittsburgh-area terrorism case in 2012, according to the Times Union.

The work for the FBI paid well, according to “The Terror Factory: Inside the FBIi's Manufactured War on Terrorism.”

The book by journalist Trevor Aaronson reported that Hussain — who was described as an FBI “superinformant” — used the money he earned from the FBI to buy the Crest Inn Suites & Cottages in Gansevoort, a hamlet near Saratoga Springs. The seedy inn is the business address for Prestige Limousine.

“The owner of Prestige has a lot of questions to answer. There's an ongoing investigation but is there a possibility of liability, civil and criminal? Certainly,” Gov. Cuomo said.

Laken Prosser, a resident of the inn, said she'd heard that Hussain recently returned to Pakistan.

“Prestige Limousine extends its deepest condolences to the family members and friends of those who tragically lost their lives on Saturday,” Lee Kindlon, an attorney for the company, said.

“We have already met with state and federal investigators, and plan to do so again, as it is our goal to provide answers as quickly as possible.”