US deports Pakistani man convicted in money laundering scheme

The US has deported a Pakistani national, who was convicted last year for laundering money and was ordered to pay nearly USD 71 million, after his release from a prison, a federal law enforcement agency has said.

Muhammad Sohail Qasmani, 50, was removed from the US and turned over to Pakistani authorities without incident on Tuesday after he served his sentence at a Pennsylvania prison.

In June 2017, he was convicted in a federal court for conspiring to commit wire fraud.

He was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment and ordered to pay nearly USD 71 million in restitution, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.

According to court documents, Qasmani had applied for admission into US at Los Angeles International Airport in California as a B-2 nonimmigrant visitor on December 22, 2014.

US Customs and Border Protection paroled him into the US for the purpose of criminal prosecution and released him to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

In an interview with FBI agents, Qasmani admitted that from November 2008 till December 31, 2012, he agreed to provide money laundering services to co-conspirators in exchange for a percentage of the money he transferred.

Qasmani provided these services with the knowledge that his collaborators had obtained this money from victims of an international telecommunications fraud, federal attorney said.

In June 2017, Qasmani was convicted federally.