Husam Usama Tayeh Sentenced

Husam Usama Tayeh, 36, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, has been sentenced to 1 year in federal prison for committing wire fraud in connection to the sales of Iraqi currency.

The sentence, handed down on Friday, January 13, 2017, is the result of a joint-federal and state investigation into Tayeh’s business, which unlawfully sold Iraqi dinars over the internet to customers across the country.

According to court documents, Tayeh was the owner of Dinar Corporation, Inc. (Dinar Corp.), a company registered in Nevada and headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Through Dinar Corp., Tayeh operated a website, dinarcorp.com, where he offered to sell customers Iraqi dinars.

Tayeh’s scheme involved offering customers the option to buy dinars through installment contracts. When a customer entered into an installment contract, Tayeh promised to place the quantity of dinars to be purchased in reserve. However, Tayeh never actually placed the dinars in reserve and never had access to enough dinars to fulfill all orders should they come due.

Tayeh’s connection to Alabama, where the case was prosecuted, stems from his inability to find a bank in or around Chicago that would accept his ill-gotten gains. As a result, Tayeh contracted with a resident of Dothan, Alabama to launder the Dinar Corp. proceeds through Dothan banks.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alabama Securities Commission. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan S. Ross and Kevin P. Davidson are prosecuting the case, along with Steven P. Feaga, Deputy Director of the Alabama Securities Commission for Enforcement and Prosecution, and Amanda W. Senn, General Counsel of the Alabama Securities Commission.

In addition to his 1-year prison sentence, Tayeh will also be subject to 1 year of supervised release after serving his time. The sentence serves as a warning to those who would engage in similar fraudulent schemes, and highlights the importance of cooperation between federal and state authorities in combating financial crimes.