Manchester man guilty of lying to federal agents

Medical supplies had been shipped to Pakistan

A Manchester mechanic has been found guilty of lying to federal agents investigating whether he was embezzling from a legitimate Islamic nonprofit group to fund the purchase of medical equipment sent to Pakistan.

Ajury found Fareed Ahmed Khan, 61, guilty of making a false statement to federal law enforcement Thursday before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer in New Haven, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.

Khan was born in Pakistan and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in February 2003 and became a member of the Islamic Circle of North America, helping collect cash and check donations for the group and helping arrange its charitable events, prosecutors said.

Federal agents learned in 2014, however, that Khan had received more than $200,000 in deposits to his bank account over eight years and investigated whether he had embezzled the cash — which federal agents said he had no legitimate way of earning — from the nonprofit group, according to court records.

At one of the ICNA charity events that year, Khan told a confidential informant that “if you cannot participate in jihad, then you must support jihad with money” and indicated that’s how he was using the money raised at the event, according to court records.

Investigators could not determine whether Khan was embezzling money from the charity, but they did discover the cash he had received appeared to be used to fund two eBay accounts that he used to buy medical equipment picked by a person in Pakistan, prosecutors said. The person in Pakistan would pick the equipment, have it shipped to Khan’s Manchester home and Khan would repackage the equipment to ship to Pakistan.

Confronted with questions about the scheme in June 2015, Khan claimed he was not affiliated with the ICNA, had never collected donations for the group and only ever shipped clothes to his family in Pakistan, prosecutors said. A search of Khan’s home a few months later turned up several items related to the ICNA and investigators searching Khan’s phone and found WhatsApp messages between Khan and the person in Pakistan about the medical equipment, prosecutors said.

Khan was charged with making false statements and after a three-day trial this week, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on Thursday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Khan faces up to five years in prison but his sentencing has not been scheduled. He is released on a $50,000 bond.

Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@courant.com.