A California man was sentenced to prison in a Tri-Cities insurance fraud case that involved an elaborate scheme to buy cars and stage crashes to collect on fake injuries.
As part of the case, he also admitted to threatening to kill the Eastern Washington family of a witness.
Ahmad K. Bachay, 40, was one of 23 defendants in the Eastern Washington District federal court case. He was one of the last to be sentenced.
He was sentenced to three years in prison and is liable for nearly $490,000.
The conspirators bought cars for contrived crashes, often with other defendants’ cars, and then filed insurance claims, saying they had been injured in the collisions.
Bachay bought a 2005 Toyota Sienna in January 2019 and sold it to another defendant, Amar F. Abdul-Salam, that month for $2,000.
The two and four others in the conspiracy staged an accident with an Infiniti FX35 on Court Street and Road 100 in Pasco the day after Abdul-Salam purchased the Toyota and insured it.
Six of the defendants in the case were riding in the Toyota and the Infiniti and filed insurance claims that falsely said they were hurt and lost wages as a result. Together they received nearly $327,000 in insurance money.
In September 2019, a person who is not named in court documents was recruited to participate in the insurance fraud ring. That person secretly recorded conversations for the FBI.
The FBI informant was given a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee and issued a check for $2,000 from DGHM Transport, a commercial truck business owned by a defendant in the case, to create the false impression that he was an employee.
In September 2019, an accident was planned between the parked Jeep and a Chevrolet Traverse on Selph Road in Pasco. A case of water was placed on the Jeep’s empty front passenger seat, so the air bag would deploy.
Before police arrived, the case of water was removed and hammers were used to hit the Jeep to cause more damage. The FBI informant was instructed by a defendant in the case to falsely say he was driving the Jeep when it crashed.
Bachay, the FBI informant and four others then filed insurance claims and received a total of almost $89,000 for medical treatment, lost wages and vehicle damage. Bachay falsely reported that he worked as a janitor at a defendant’s cleaning company in California and received about $7,000 for lost wages.
When search warrants were issued in the case in May 2020 for homes in Washington and California, Bachay was among defendants who tried to find out who was cooperating with the FBI.
Bachay, then living in California, told the FBI informant that he would travel to Eastern Washington to kill him and his family.
Bachay also told the FBI informant that he would kill the family in Iraq of a different person he suspected of cooperating with the FBI, according to court documents.
Brandon Pang, an assistant U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington who prosecuted the case, said in court documents that insurance fraud “is an egregious offense because it not only affects those involved, but society as a whole because this fraud results in higher insurance premiums for everyone.”
Bachay was sentenced to three years in prison for a charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud related to insurance claims and tampering with a witness.
The $486,000 he is liable for includes restitution of nearly $401,000 and forfeiture of $85,000.
Some of the lower-level participants in the case received deferred prosecution agreements or probation, but some who took a larger role, including those who led the criminal scheme, were sentenced to prison, according to court documents.
Defendant Ali Yaser was sentenced to three years and six months in prison after making false reports to Tri-Cities police, falsely claiming the FBI agent working on the case had attempted to extort him and others.
Defendant Hussein Yasir, whose girlfriend worked for a law firm and was also a defendant in the case, told others in the conspiracy that working with an attorney would increase their profits. He was sentenced of three years in prison.
Bachay, Yaser and Yasir have received the highest sentences, with two defendants not yet sentenced, according to court documents.
