A criminally charged man with impersonating Department of Homeland Security agents He may have been deceived by his own accomplices. several Secret Service agentsAccording to a Monday court filing, the defense lawyer claimed that he was misled by his codefendant into thinking that he actually was DHS agent.

“The evidence against Mr. [Haider]Ali isn’t strong,” Ali’s lawyer said in the U.S. District Court, Washington, D.C.

Gregory Smith, a lawyer, stated that “it is not evident that Mr. Ali ever claimed himself to be a federal officer or employee” and added that any statements he made were believed by him as false.

Smith filed that Ali was interviewed multiple times by a U.S. post inspector over the past month. He stated that Ali “may well have believed, naively, but genuinely believed,” that Arian Taherzadeh was a Homeland Security Investigations special agents and that work Taherzadeh did for Taherzadeh (USSP), may include work from DHS.

Ali was 35 when he filed for bankruptcy. detention hearing for Ali and Taherzadeh scheduled to resume in courtLater Monday Last week, the men were detained.

Both men are wanted by the prosecution, and they will be held indefinitely without bail. They were deemed a threat to the community.

In Monday’s filings, lawyers representing the defendants asked for bail. The judge refused to grant them bail because prosecutors overstate the gravity of their case.

Ali’s lawyer claimed that Ali has four children, and is now “badly required back home” since Ali’s wife had surgery this Friday.

He also pointed out that Ali could be sentenced to anywhere from zero to six months imprisonment even if he is convicted of the Class E felonies he faces. According to the attorney, he could also receive probationary sentences.

Prosecutors said that since the arrest of the men last week — amid claims they lavished gifts on Secret Service agents and provided two such agents with free apartments that normally rent for up to $48,000 per year — “the story only gets worse” as investigators turn up additional evidence.

“Due to the rapid pace of investigation, we have many facts that are still unknown.”
“Know,” Prosecutors wrote in a court filing Sunday.

“But the facts that we do know about the Defendants—that they lied about their identities for years, stored a cache of weapons and surveillance equipment in their apartments, compromised law enforcement agents in sensitive positions, and tried to cover up their crimes — leave no doubt that their release poses a public safety risk. The Defendants must be held.”

Agents of the Secret Service who protected first lady Jill BidenThe White House and other government agencies were also duped by their alleged lies regarding DHS agents.

Prosecutors also stated that the defendants had access codes which could have allowed them into all the apartments of the Washington D.C. Navy Yard area residential complex, where they own five apartments. Some of the apartments were occupied by actual law enforcement officers.

Prosecutors have also stated that Ali claimed to witnesses in the case, that he knew of connections between Ali and ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

As a result, four Secret Service Agents were placed on Leave.

Michelle Peterson was Taherzadeh’s lawyer and filed Monday for him to be released on bail.

Peterson stated that the government had failed to prove that the offense is detainable in the first instance, or that conditions for release can be made that reasonably ensure the safety of communities.

Last month, Ali and Taherzadeh (40 years old) were questioned by a U.S. post inspector in relation to the attack on a mail carrier at their Washington apartment. They are believed to have been witnesses.

According to the postal inspector, DHS agents were told by them and they represented themselves as agents for other residents.

Ali stated to the inspector in his March 16 interview that he was an investigator for the USSP Special Investigations Unit. Smith, Ali’s attorney, wrote Monday’s court filing.

USSP, United States Special Police is owned by Taherzadeh. It’s not an official law enforcement agency or part of Department of Homeland Security.

Ali was asked by an inspector in follow-up interviews on March 21 if USSP is included within DHS. He replied: “As I understand.” DHS conducts investigations.

Ali said that the USSP is not part DHS after the inspector had told him so.

Ali was later asked why Taherzadeh was being described by him as a special agent of the DHS Homeland Security Investigations team.

Ali said to the postal inspector, “He’s HSI.”

Ali retorted that Taherzadeh had not been in fact a HSI agent when the inspector informed him. He conducts large investigations in DC.

Smith wrote that Mr. Ali should have believed Taherzadeh.

According to the lawyer, prosecutors had claimed that “many highly-experienced law enforcement agents… gave in to this trap.”

“If the federal agents with decades or more of experience could not discern Taherzadeh’s claims, then why should we expect anything less from Mr. Ali? He is a high school graduate who has no formal training and holds no college degrees. Smith asked the question in the filing.

A Sunday filing by the prosecutor suggested that further serious allegations could be made against Ali or Taherzadeh.

“Within a day, Government has confirmed other troubling facts: The ammunition magazines seized at Ali’s Glock 19 & Taherzadeh Sig Sauer was illegal, high capacity magazines. After Taherzadeh was tipped-off about the investigation. Neither Ali nor Ali seems to have attempted further conceal evidence. This includes corruptly enlisting help from a federal law enforcement officer,” prosecutors wrote.

According to the filing, a former U.S. Marine had come forward to inform investigators about a scheme to recruit him using false DHS credentials. He claimed that he saw illegal weapons at Ali and Taherzadeh, as well as an AR-15/M4 automatic rifle equipped with an illegal suppressor.

The filing stated that neither one of the men was licensed to carry a gun outside their residence.

Court filings prove that Tishman Speyer, the real estate giantWhich is the owner of the apartment building where the defendants kept their five apartments? In January, the default judgment was for over $222,000 in unpaid rental rent.

According to the lawsuit, United States Special Police Taherzadeh was awarded default judgment against his company. The United States Special Police never paid rent for any apartments it leased in 2020.