February 15, 2019
Lawyers for Hassan Nemazee, the Iranian-American businessman sentenced to 12 years for a $292 million bank fraud, say he should be moved to home confinement under a new law just signed by President Trump.
Nemazee, now 68, has spent nearly 8-1/2 years in prison so far.
His lawyers say he qualifies for early release under the First Step Act, a prison reform law signed by Trump in December—and which Trump boasted about in his State of the Union address.
Among other things, the new law allows judges to release to home confinement some older prisoners who have served at least two-thirds of their sentences.
Nemazee’s lawyers said their client has been a model prisoner, has a job and housing lined up for after his release, and “embodies the very paradigm” of the type of person Congress intended for home confinement.
The lawyers said the Federal Bureau of Prisons has not responded to Nemazee’s request for home confinement, possibly because of the partial government shutdown, and asked US District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan to grant it.
Nemazee was born in the United States but did not become a citizen by birth. His father was in the United States as a diplomat and the children born of diplomats in the United States are not granted citizenship at birth. His family left Iran after the 1979 revolution, and he received citizenship after moving to the United States.
He pleaded guilty in 2010 to obtaining $292 million in loans from Bank of America, Citigroup and HSBC by using fake documents to show he had the necessary collateral.
Nemazee was well-known for his political activities. These included being a top fund-raiser for the Clintons and then, after Hillary Clinton lost the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Obama nominated him to be an ambassador, but the background investigation for that appointment unearthed financial shenanigans and he was instead prosecuted under the Obama Administration.
Nemazee is now federal prisoner 62625-054 being detained at the minimum security federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, where license plates for federal vehicles are made. Although he technically has 3-1/2 more years to serve, the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website lists his expected release date as February 6, 2020, presumably based on good behavior in prison.