A well-known Columbia businessman and cultural leader was sentenced yesterday to three years in federal prison for illegally siphoning more than $200,000 to family, friends and charities in Iraq during sanctions between 1991 and 2003.
A large group gathered to witness the sentencing issued by District Judge Nanette Laughrey in the Western District Court of Missouri in light of Shakir Hamoodi’s December 2009 guilty plea to violating federal sanctions against Iraq.
“I made a mistake, and I am deeply sorry,” Hamoodi told Laughrey before he was sentenced yesterday. “All money sent was used by friends and family.”
Hamoodi, an Iraqi-American former nuclear scientist with the University of Missouri and World Harvest store owner, could have faced up to 71 months in prison. Laughrey said Hamoodi’s efforts to diffuse cultural ignorance toward Muslims and educate local residents about the practice of Islam over the past 20 years weighed heavily in her decision. Hamoodi, through attorney J.R. Hobbs of Kansas City, had requested probation.
Although others have received lesser penalties, Laughrey noted that those defendants sent less money and committed fewer transactions. Hamoodi’s efforts evolved into a nine-year conspiracy, she said.
Garrett Heenan, a trial attorney with the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, recommended a 48-month sentence. Hamoodi is scheduled to report to federal prison Aug. 28 after his observance of Ramadan.
“While we are disappointed in the degree of the penalty, we are pleased the judge departed downward on many factors,” Hobbs said.
Federal agents in September 2006 searched the Woodberry Court home of Hamoodi, who has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Investigators found no proof that Hamoodi was aiding the Iraqi government through his financial contributions.
“The problem during the” Saddam “Hussein era is that we don’t know where the money went,” Heenan said of money filtering into Iraq. “I understand money could go to family and charities, but the money could be taxed by Hussein.”
Hamoodi could have obtained a license during the sanctions through the Department of the Treasury, but that would have only allowed for the transfer of goods, not money.
Hamoodi conspired to help other Columbia residents filter money into Iraq for their families, the court found, but he was the lone defendant.
Hamoodi said family members never complained about not receiving funds and that letters sent back by relatives can be considered receipts.
Since his home was searched, Hamoodi said, other students have called his children terrorists, his neighbors keep a distance from him and his business has suffered. More than 20 supporters gathered after the sentencing to express their support for the Hamoodi family as their children continue their education and expenses pile up during his absence.
“He really has a heart for helping people,” Charles Atkins said. “Now it is our turn.”
Those present in support of the Hamoodi family were stunned by yesterday’s sentencing. Hartsburg resident Kit Salter, a former MU professor, said it angers him to read news reports about defendants released on probation for drug and larceny charges.
“I see it as the world turned upside-down for a man like Shakir and his family to face 36 months of prison for fundamental support of family and friends,” he said.