United States Attorney John E. Murphy announced that 63-year-old Ahmed Adil Abdallat, a supervisory intelligence research specialist for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in El Paso, Texas, faces federal charges in connection with a scheme to steal government travel funds and for misuse of a diplomatic passport.
A nine-count indictment, returned on February 23, 2011 by a federal grand jury in El Paso, charges Abdallat with eight counts of misuse of a diplomatic passport and one count of conversion of public money. Upon conviction, the defendant faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine per count.
In March 2007, Abdallat was issued a diplomatic passport in order to perform various temporary duties in U.S. Embassies in several foreign countries. The indictment alleges that on eight different occasions since October 2007, Abdallat used his official diplomatic passport for the personal purpose of travel to and from Ahman, Jordan. At least four of these occasions were after Abdallat was permanently assigned to duty in El Paso and no longer had any official embassy, mission, or related activities which required overseas travel on a diplomatic passport. The indictment further alleges that from February 15, 2009 through September 10, 2010, Abdallat traveled from El Paso to Washington, D.C. and received approximately $123,000 in travel fund reimbursements. A review of the travel voucher documents submitted by Abdallat for reimbursement revealed that they contained multiple fictitious charges for lodging, vehicle rental, and parking.
Abdallat remains in federal custody after being arrested on February 24, 2011. A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. before United States Magistrate Judge David C. Guaderrama.
This investigation was conducted by a multi-agency task force including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Diplomatic Security Service. Assistant United States Attorney Greg McDonald is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.
An indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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