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UAE: US lawyer Asim Ghafoor fined Dh5 million for money laundering, tax evasion

He will be deported after paying the fine

Published: Wed 10 Aug 2022, 5:32 PM

Updated: Wed 10 Aug 2022, 10:44 PM

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An Abu Dhabi court has found US lawyer Asim Ghafoor guilty of money laundering and fined him Dh5 million. The court overturned a previous three-year jail sentence and ordered the convict's deportation after the fine is settled.

The anti-money laundering and tax evasion court also ordered that the funds in Ghafoor’s account used in committing the crime be seized.


The accused has the right to appeal the judgment “within the legally specified period”, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department said.

The UAE had earlier said that Ghafoor committed money laundering and tax evasion by transferring at least $4.9 million through the country's banking system.

The international transfers were executed through multiple bank accounts that Ghafoor opened "with the intent to conceal the origin of the funds from tax authorities", the UAE Embassy to the US had said.

The UAE initiated its investigation in 2020 into Ghafoor’s activities after receiving an official request from the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi on behalf of the US Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division. Based on this investigation, a UAE court convicted Ghafoor on charges of money laundering and tax evasion on May 25, 2022.

Since his arrest, Ghafoor was “afforded due process of the law and has been advised by legal counsel in the UAE”. He and his counsel have had “multiple opportunities to confer in person or by video at their choosing and he has appeared in court on two occasions”, the UAE statement said.

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