Photo Courtesy of Google
The Awawdeh brothers, two of the five people charged in the complaint, own this convenience store on Roosevelt Island.
By Forum Staff
Five people have been charged in a scheme in which they swindled over $1.5 million dollars from a wheelchair bound homeless woman.
The victim, Michelle Carter, 62, received the money after she lost her legs in a subway accident.
Bodega ownerAmmarAwawdeh, 27, his father 58-year-old YaserAwawdeh, both of 77th Street in Brooklyn, SalahOmairat, 30, of Fulton Street, also in Brooklyn, his brother MukhtarOmairat, 36, of Staten Island and Anas Ali, 32, of Staten Island, have been variously charged with crimes ranging from money laundering, grand larceny, conspiracy, criminal possession of stolen property and other charges for allegedly bilking Carter out of her settlement money between October 8, 2015 and October17, 2018.
“The homeless victim in this case lost her legs years ago when she was struck by a Subway train. She sued and received a $4 million settlement. Her windfall, unfortunately, became the target of alleged scammers,” said DA Brown.“The victim trusted a bodega owner to cash her check, but temptation proved too overwhelming. The main defendant allegedly used the money for his wedding and honeymoon and distributed funds to his friends. This kind of underhanded con is unacceptable and the defendants will be held accountable for these alleged crimes.”
According to the criminal complaints, Ammar and YaserAwawdeh are the owners of the 579 Island Market store on Main Street in Roosevelt Island. Carter entrusted AmmarAwawdeh to cash one of her last settlement checks totaling just over $799,000.But when he cashed the check he deposited the funds into the business’s bank account, where his friend and co-defendant Ali worked as a bank manager at the time. Between October 6, 2015 and October 30, 2015, defendant AmmarAwawdeh withdrew $200,000 of the funds for his personal use and distributed additional funds the other defendants as well as to unapprehended others.
Complaints sayAmmarAwawdeh used the pilfered $200,000 to pay for gambling trips and wedding expenses including a bachelor party in Las Vegas and honeymooning in Turks and Caicos.
In January 2016, the victim realized that her last settlement check for more than $886,000 was missing from the Bible she kept it in.
When she went to the bank for a re-issue she earned the check had been cahed and reported it to the Amtrak Police at Penn Station.
AmmarAwawdehstole the second check, and he, along with his co-defendants deposited it in business bank account of a Queens bodega managed by co-defendant SalahOmairat.
The second check was deposited at a bank branch managed by co-defendant Ali, who signed off on the deposit without the payee present.
The next day, the stolen money was distributed among the band of thieves. Among their expenditures were a new car and jewelery in addition to large cah disbursements to their business accounts.
Ali no longer works for Chase bank. A forensic analysis of all the bank records allegedly showed that the victim received just over $100,000 from the two checks that together totaled $1.685 million.
