Fugitive Scot on FBI most wanted list pleads: Let me turn myself in
A SCOTS-born businessman who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted list has said he is ready to turn himself in after five years on the run.
Afzal Khan is wanted by authorities in the United States over an alleged £1.3million luxury car scam.
Khan is accused of conning a string of customers and financial firms at a motor dealership he ran in New Jersey and faces up to 100 years in prison.
Federal agents hunting the 37-year-old, originally from
Edinburgh, have offered a £15,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Khan has now appeared on US television to say he wants to surrender but claims he is being ignored by prosecutors.
In a videophone interview with Fox News, Khan said he had been hiding out in a country which has no extradition treaty with the United States.
He said he would hand himself in if his wife and two daughters are flown back to the US with him. This allows them to avoid fines for overstaying their visas in the country they fled to.
He added: ‘What more do I have to do? I’m basically begging you. I’m a fugitive from justice saying “Arrest me”.
‘I need to get my wife and kids home so I can stand trial.
‘The prosecutor is going to spend $20,000 to get information about me. Let me walk into an embassy. You’ve got a military jet going home, throw me in with my wife and kids.’
Khan claims his two children have not attended school or seen a doctor in the five years he’s been on the run and says his wife Stephanie Khan is struggling. She told Fox News: ‘It is difficult constantly looking over your shoulder.’
His family could face fines of up to £50,000 if they flew to the US on a commercial flight.
Flamboyant Khan, known to his clients as Bobby, opened the Emporio Motor Group in New Jersey in 2013 and maintained a high profile. He appeared on US reality show The Real Housewives of New Jersey and he counted members of the cast as his clients.
He has been accused of a massive fraud involving super cars such as Lamborghinis, Porsches and Rolls-Royces.
Khan is accused of obtaining loans from a bank for cars that he never delivered but for which the purchaser was still responsible. He is also said to have obtained loans for cars that were delivered but his company did not have the vehicles’ title documents. As a result, the purchasers of these cars were liable for the loan but could not register the vehicles.
Khan also allegedly offered to sell cars for customers but did not provide any money from the sales, nor did he return the cars. He has been charged with five counts of wire fraud and fraudulently obtaining 21 loans totalling about £1.3million.
Each count of wire fraud is punishable by a maximum pen
‘I’m basically begging you’ ‘I need to get my kids home’
alty of 20 years in prison and a fine of £195,000.
Khan was born in Edinburgh to Pakistani parents and moved to the US more than 20 years ago. In an interview he gave when he opened his car dealership in 2013, Khan said: ‘This is a boutique dealership. It’s like walking into a Gucci store.’
He reportedly has ties to the United Arab Emirates, Canada, the UK and Pakistan, and could be in any of these countries.
He is 5ft 10in tall, 13 stone, with a scar on his right arm.
The New Jersey US Attorney’s Office and the FBI refused to comment on the case.