Former Chicago comptroller Amer Ahmad has been extradited from Pakistan, almost nine months after he was sentenced in absentia for his role in a kickback scheme at the state treasurer’s office in Ohio, according to federal attorneys in the case.
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But he soon changed his mind after experiencing “rugged” jail conditions in Pakistan, including having to sleep on the floor, and sought to serve out his prison term in the United States.
FIA sources said that Ahmad’s entry was allowed simply because of his presumed Pakistani origin upon initial inquiry, as he had maintained that his parents are Pakistani citizens and that he was also born here. He has been ordered to serve 15 years in prison and forfeit $3.2 million in illicit proceeds. A judge in Pakistan recommended that he be extradited back to the U.S.
Ahmad left his wife and three children behind when he fled his Chicago home, crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on foot, and obtained fake documents to travel to Pakistan – a trek he chronicled in a diary.
Ahmad, who appeared thin, told the judge he had worked “aggressively” to be returned to the United States during 16 months in what he described as “a Third World jail” in Pakistan.
Turning to face his parents and beginning to cry, he said he wanted to thank them for ” staying with me” when no one else did. “Please stick with me – I’ll make you proud once again”.
Over the course of the scheme, Hampton was reportedly paid more than $500,000 in bribes and received about $3.2 million in commission for 360 securities trades on behalf of the Ohio treasurer.
According to Ahmad’s plea, he used his position as deputy treasurer from January 2009 to January 2011 to direct business to securities broker Douglas Hampton in return for bribes.
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He expressed “sincere remorse and contrition for this entire awful chapter” in his life, and he apologized to family, friends, former bosses ex-state treasurer Kevin Boyce and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and to the people of Ohio.
