A father and son accused of a major education scam in the US have posted bail by handing over a treasure trove of diamonds and rubies.
Millionaire Jowhar Soultanali, 58, and his son Kabir Kassam, 34, have been charged with bribing public officials with cash, Caribbean cruises and strip club visits as part of a scheme to con taxpayers out of $33 million.
The plan, according to the prosecution, was to use the bribes to score government contracts for their Niles-based businesses, Brilliance Academy Inc. and Babbage Net School Inc. It’s also alleged that the two men overcharged some 200 school districts in 19 states by collecting millions of dollars meant to help low-income students.
“It was part of the scheme that defendants Soultanali and Kassam fraudulently obtained over $33 million for Brilliance and Babbage from more than 200 public school districts,” the official indictment handed down by the US Attorney in Chicago says, listing the following allegations:
- Misrepresenting the nature of the tutoring services Brilliance and Babbage provided students in those school districts,
- Providing substandard educational materials to students,
- Falsely inflating invoices the companies submitted to school districts for tutoring services purportedly provided; and
- Creating and distributing false and misleading student progress and improvement reports.
Prosecutors have also noted that Soultanali and Kassam recently sent $5 million to Dubai, which the accused men argue was not illegal.
But things got even more interesting when the US District court set their bail at $500,000 each.
While high bail prices are often secured with property, it was the wide range of riches presented by Soultanali and Kassam that caught the public’s attention: they decided to hand over not only deeds to five homes, but also a treasure trove of diamond and ruby rings and earrings, life insurance policies and three of their five luxury vehicles – a collection of cars that includes Lexuses, a BMW, an Infiniti and a Camaro muscle car.
Judge James Zagel also ordered the overarching companies, Brilliance and Babbage, to file monthly financial reports with the court so that no profits are embezzled while the case plays out.
If convicted, the father and son team could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of bribery and a maximum of 20 years and a $250,000 fine for each count of mail fraud. Quid wonders if they would also be able to pay for it in jewels?
Strange Bail Conditions
While setting bail is usually a straightforward process, the case above is not the only time when it has been a bit bizarre.
Another high-cost bail example comes from a Namibian court sentence in 2010, when Judge Alfred Siboleka ordered a man accused of involvement in a multi-million dollar government scam to “purchase immoveable property in which to reside in Walvis Bay” as one of his bail conditions so that he would have somewhere secure to stay during the court proceedings.
Similarly strict was the condition set for three ill-tempered soccer fans in the UK, who had to sign in at local police stations during the first half of any match their team played, regardless of whether they were watching the match – a requirement the BBC called “unusual” at the time.
Then there was the New Zealand man charged with possession of cannabis and indecent exposure in 2012 who was only granted bail under the condition that he “not enter licensed premises, other than supermarkets, not drink alcohol and that he wear underpants or boxer shorts while in public”.
Apparently the man was known around Wellington as “Blanket Man” because he favoured what his lawyer described as “high-risk clothing” (i.e. a blanket, and only a blanket).
These examples highlight how specific bond conditions can be and – at least in the case of Blanket Man – the very good reasoning behind them.
But as far as Quid can tell, no other high profile cases in the news have showed off wealth by securing bonds with pirate-style treasure, leaving the Chicago father and son team with a profile all of their own.
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