A Pakistani native accused of buying USD 30,000 watches and cars costing more than USD 100,000 as part of a money laundering scheme, pleaded guilty today to federal fraud charges.
Haider Zafar's plea came minutes after an IRS agent testified about the extravagant spending including USD 145,307 for an Aston-Martin and linked it to an alleged USD 10.1 million real estate fraud in Zafar's native Pakistan.
Zafar has also been linked to alleged fraud against Miami Heat players, including former forward Mike Miller, according to a witness who testified in August.
Authorities wouldn't comment on the allegations, but Zafar's plea deal includes a willingness to resolve a possible federal investigation in Florida. The FBI in Miami assisted in the Ohio investigation, according to the US attorney's office in Columbus.
If charges are brought in Florida, where Zafar also used to live, they could be heard in Ohio under an agreement between federal authorities in both states, said Dale Williams, an assistant US attorney.
At today's hearing, Zafar pleaded guilty before Judge Edmund Sargus to multiple charges of wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. He faces dozens of years in prison at sentencing. No date has been set. Messages were left for Zafar's attorney.
A 135-count indictment filed last year described a scheme under which Zafar swindled a Washington businessman out of USD 10 million between 2008 and 2010.
Zafar is accused of claiming that his uncle headed the defense department in Pakistan and thus had inside information about land sales to the government, IRS agent Charles Birch testified today.
