Post by Scumhunter on Oct 28, 2014 10:16:33 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: FBI.Gov)
Link to Fred Monem's "American Greed: The Fugitives" episode: www.hulu.com/watch/398363
Fugitive Profile as of October 28th, 2014 (Based on FBI.gov wanted poster)
Date(s) of Birth Used: July 30, 1958
Place of Birth: Tehran, Iran
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 210 pounds
Occupation: Prison Food Buyer and Food Salesman
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Sex: Male
Race: White (Persian)
Nationality: Iranian
Remarks: Monem speaks both Farsi and English. He is a naturalized American citizen. Monem is known to have traveled to Buffalo, New York, on July 1, 2007, and has ties to California, Canada, and Iran. It is alleged that he is a heavy user of marijuana, hashish, and alcohol. He also likes to gamble.
Who to call if you've seen him: Local FBI field office or embassy or submit a web tip to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov
Former Oregon prison food services administrator Farhad "Fred" Monem has been aired on AMW along with a lengthier profile on CNBC's "American Greed: The Fugitives". He is in my opinion one of the more intriguing cases among the FBI's Most Wanted white collar criminals. The following is a 2007 AMW archive description of his alleged crimes to help readers better understand the case:
Feds: Con Man's Shifty Deals Yields Hefty Kickbacks
When 49-year-old Farhad Monem fled his native Iran to avoid military conscription, authorities say that he became a naturalized American citizen and went by the name 'Fred'. But Fred Monem made another name for himself in the U.S. as the state of Oregon's food service administrator. The FBI says he was in charge of buying every scrap of food to feed 13,000 inmates at every prison and correctional facility in Oregon.
At first, Monem was praised for drastically reducing the cost of feeding the prisoners by purchasing distressed and bulk foods for the inmates. The savings he made reduced the per-inmate food costs in Oregon to among the lowest in the U.S. Authorities say that Monem's crime wasn't selling food that was past the sell-by date, it was extorting and bribing money from numerous food companies.
Then in October 2006, a whistle-blower contacted the FBI and told them that Monem was involved in a multi-million dollar kickback and extortion scheme. The FBI believes that Monem had struck a deal with the owners of a California food supplier to buy distressed foods. He agreed to pay higher than market prices in exchange for skimming a portion of the company's profits. Authorities tell AMW that it was this and other similar sweet deals that earned him more than $1.3 million in kickbacks.
Cash, Guns, And Drugs
To catch Monem in the act, the FBI tracked him and the food company bosses to Las Vegas where they would reportedly live the high life and work out their bribe deals. The FBI says that they searched one of Monem's homes and found a large amount of cash and drugs, including marijuana and hashish. They also discovered that the suspect paid cash for his BMW, a boat, two homes along the Oregon coast, and a number of townhouses in Salem.
Monem's wife and the food company owners were all arrested, but only Monem ran. In October 2007, a grand jury indicted Farhad 'Fred' Monem on 20 counts relating to the bribery and racketeering schemes. The FBI says that once he is caught, he could face more than 20 years in jail.
Authorities claim that Monem had more than a dozen guns and rifles in his home. He is a gambler and heavy user of marijuana, hashish, and alcohol. He speaks both Farsi and English. Authorities say that Monem is known to have traveled to Buffalo, New York on July 1, 2007 and also has ties to California, Canada, and Iran.
A couple of more notes have been provided from the American Greed episode:
-Monem was initially considered a hero for all the money he saved Oregon and was written up in papers as such. He was given a proposition by Prosecutors: Accept a plea deal for 8-10 years (news articles say 6-8 but the episode said 8-10 I think), or risk going to trial and serving 2 decades plus.
-Monem traveled to Buffalo to visit his brother. From there, an investigator with the case believes he "dropped his cell phone in Niagra Falls" went to Canada, obtained an Iranian passport and fled to Tehran.
-Monem was not initially in hiding in Iran. There are as a reader may have known or assumed already, no diplomatic relations, let alone an extradition treaty, between the U.S. and Iran. He communicated with Prosecutors and officials and even conducted an interview with an Oregon newspaper. Monem still feels he did a lot of good and even the proposed plea deal is too harsh for his "mistake." Monem was quoted on the show by a journalist as saying he would turn himself in for 1-2 years but not for 8-10 years.
-Despite Monem living in Iran, those on the American Greed show said he was not always happy there and was used to a higher-end lifestyle in the U.S. Even in newspaper articles he seems to confirm the speculation and admits to having a rough time there and says "prison would have been easier." He says in addition to just wanting a better plea deal he also fled to Iran to care for his father even though the reason Monem wasn't working on the run is because his father is "well off." Officials have learned Monem had went to a Swiss embassy in Iran to obtain a U.S. passport and his Iranian passport was set to expire at the end of 2012. Because of this, it is believed it is entirely possible he is no longer in Iran.
Thoughts? First of all this threads are usually meant to discuss whereabouts of fugitives and where we think they may be and I don't really want to get into a debate over the sentencing proposals and whether they were fair or not. But let's assume for argument's sake, Monem has/had a point. If he had accepted the plea deal, he might actually be out of prison by now. Considering even he admits to having a rough time in Tehran, in retrospect he might wish he took that deal back in 2007, whether it was fair or not.
I wouldn't be surprised if he fled elsewhere, but we shall wait and see what happens next.
www.fbi.gov/wanted/wcc/farhad-fred-monem/view
web.archive.org/web/20070811114916/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=51911
www.1001harf.com/fred-farhad-monem-fugitive-in-oregon-prison-scandal-talks-for-the-first-time/
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