Concerning Sirrah Chertoff, it may interest readers to know that he may have shielded from criminal prosecution a former client suspected by law enforcement of having funneled millions of dollars directly from Osama bin Laden to various terrorist groups around the world while he (Chertoff) was in charge of the USG's 9/11 investigation.
Some interesting facts concerning the Egyptian-born Dr. Magdy el-Amir, a prominent New Jersey neurologist, long-time friend of Michael Chertoff and a man who is at the center of a range of various terrorist intrigues emanating from Jersey City, NJ:
* El-Amir gave $$ to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, one of the conspirators involved in the 1993 WTC bombing;
* His brother Mohammed, while in Cairo, was caught on tape attempting to buy weapons from an American undercover agent for Islamic militant groups;
* Before being arrested in a terrorist deal involving oil and heroin for guns and training, arms smuggler Diaa Moshen was paid at least $5,000 by one of Dr. El-Amir's companies, as reported by NBC Dateline;
* According to a foreign intelligence report made available to the Chairman of the House International Committee, el-Amir's HMO was suspected by law enforcement of being used to funnel $$ provided by OBL to finance various "terrorist" activities around the world;
* According to a lawsuit filed shortly before the State of New Jersey took over his failing HMO, el-Amir "caused more than $5.7 million to be paid by wire transfers to unknown parties";
El-Amir was further involved in an HMO scam that bilked investors of more than $45 million. Once his HMO house of cards began to fall apart, el-Amir went straight to the top criminal defense attorney he could afford: Michael Chertoff. As the Bergen Record reported on June 19, 2000:
“New Jersey is home to about 65,000 lawyers, some of whom are quite good at what they do. But if the State had a First Lawyer, or a Lawyer Laureate, it just might be Michael Chertoff.”
“His counsel is sought by public corporations, politicians, government agencies, and high-profile defendants.”
“Columbia/HCA, the health care consortium .. is the ninth-largest employer in the United States .. As the lead attorney for Columbia, Chertoff negotiated a partial settlement of the case in May for about $745 million.
El-Amir's entire net worth, when he contacted Chertoff, was a meager $760k... not chump change, to be sure, but not exactly a member of even the Millionaire's Club and strange indeed that a man of such (relatively) modest means could command the legal counsel of NJ's top criminal defender.. However he contracted Chertoff's services, Chertoff was worth even dime he paid: el-Amir got off the hook w/o facing any criminal prosecution.
Getting back to OBL, according to a foreign intelligence report obtained by NBC Dateline in the fall of 2004, and which was given to a senior member of Congress -- Ben Gilman -- back in 1998 when he was chairman of the House International Relations Committee, el-Amir has had financial ties w/ OBL going back for many, many years. The report alleges that an HMO owned by el-Amir was "funded by bin Laden" and that in turn el-Amir was skimming money from the HMO so as to finance "terrorist activities." According to sources close to the investigation, $15 million remains unaccounted for in the shambles of el-Amir's HMO. Where did the $$ go? Dateline found that at least some went into hard-to-trace offshore bank accounts.
More info here:
http://www.madcowprod.com/