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July 27, 2004
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that a former chairman and CEO of a high-tech company was indicted today on charges of plotting the murder of a federal judge in San Francisco and the intimidation of witnesses connected to his case. In addition to the 23 counts facing the chairman and CEO, his brother was also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and perjury.
Amr Mohsen, 57 of Los Gatos, California and his brother, Aly Mohsen, 51 of Springfield, Missouri, were charged in a superseding indictment today by a federal grand jury on 23 counts. Amr Moshen was charged with soliciting to commit the murder of the federal judge who was hearing his criminal case–the Hon. William H. Alsup–in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 373 , solicitation of arson in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 373, and attempted witness tampering in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1512.
The federal case involving Mr. Mohsen began when he was a witness in a civil patent matter, Aptix Corporation et al. v. QuickTurn Design Systems, Inc. Mr. Mohsen was the founder, chairman and CEO of Aptix, the plaintiff. That case was being heard by Judge Alsup in San Francisco. During the civil trial, Mr. Mohsen testified about an Engineering Notebook that would have given him exclusive rights to a patent because he claimed to have invented the technology in question involving "field programmable" circuit boards. According to the indictment, Amr Mohsen, the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Aptix Corporation, along with his brother Aly Mohsen, were originally indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice for testimony given in the civil trial. That criminal case was also pending before Judge Alsup and was about to go to trial when Amr Moshen was arrested for contempt of court and violating the conditions of his release.
On April 20, 2004, a superseding indictment was returned which included an additional count against Amr Mohsen for contempt of court in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 401(3). This count was filed after Amr Mohsen was arrested three days before he was supposed to go to trial. At the time of Amr Mohsen's arrest, he was in possession of a newly issued Egyptian passport in violation of his bail agreement and $20,000 cash. Mr. Mohsen had been overheard making flight reservations for the Cayman Islands.
After Amr Mohsen was arrested for contempt, he was ordered detained and placed in custody in an Alameda County detention facility (Santa Rita jail) pending trial. According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed today and the superseding indictment, Mr. Mohsen solicited new criminal activity while housed in the Santa Rita jail. Specifically, it is alleged that Amr Mohsen solicited the murder of the federal judge, Hon. William H. Alsup, who had been presiding over his criminal case; that Mr. Mohsen sought to intimidate a trial witness by commissioning the arson of that trial witness' car; and that Mr. Mohsen attempted to intimidate other trial witnesses with threatening phone calls warning them not to show up for trial or they will "come up missing."
According to the search warrant affidavit, Mr. Mohsen contracted with an informant, who, with the FBI's assistance, listened to conversations with Mr. Mohsen. Mr. Mohsen solicited the informant's assistance in committing a series of criminal acts while he was in jail. According to the affidavit, Mr. Mohsen's criminal activity from Santa Rita jail culminated with Mr. Mohsen's solicitation of the murder of Judge Alsup during the weekend of June 12-13, 2004. The affidavit alleges that Mr. Mohsen approached an informant and stated that he desired to make the Federal Judge in his criminal case "disappear" so he will be "never found." According to the affidavit, Mr. Mohsen confirmed that he meant he wanted a "funeral" for the judge. Mr. Mohsen allegedly told the informant that once the Judge was gone, "everything will go my way."
The search warrant affidavit alleges that Mr. Mohsen and the informant discussed the possible methods by which the murder of Judge Alsup could be accomplished, including a gas leak, to which Mohsen replied "which is least traceable?" Mr. Mohsen negotiated with the informant over the price for murdering Judge Alsup. According to the affidavit, Mr. Mohsen was told that the murder of a Federal Judge was a big deal and would cost $25,000. After hearing that price, Mohsen allegedly stated: "That's very high...I heard it's more like ten [$10,000]."
In addition to soliciting the murder of the judge set to hear his trial, Mr. Mohsen identified five trial witnesses by name and gave their home phone numbers to the informant. He asked the informant to burn down the home of one witness and to stage a break-in to the car of another while leaving a threatening note. Mr. Mohsen later changed his mind about burning the witness' home and instead commissioned the arson of that witness' car in order to frighten the witness and dissuade the witness from testifying at the trial.
The second defendant, Aly Mohsen, is a medical doctor who owns shares of Aptix. He is charged with obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and perjury based on his participation in the creation of the fabricated notebook and false statements that he made about them as a witness in trial.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 373, one half of the maximum penalty for the crime solicited and a fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of Title 18 U.S.C. § 1512 is ten years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. An indictment simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Amr and Aly Mohsen must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
Amr and Aly Mohsen's next scheduled appearance is at 10:30 a.m. on August 4, 2004, before District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, who was assigned this case following Judge Alsup's recusal.
The prosecution is the result of a two year investigation by agents of the FBI. Robin Harris is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415)436-7181 or Criminal Chief Ross Nadel at (415)436-6778.
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