Feds in San Diego unseal long-hidden immigration fraud case against Saudi who helped 9/11 hijackers
The unsealing of Omar al-Bayoumi’s case appears connected to a civil lawsuit seeking to link Saudi Arabia to the 9/11 attacks
By ALEX RIGGINS | alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com | The San Diego Union-Tribune
PUBLISHED: July 12, 2024 at 4:40 a.m. | UPDATED: July 12, 2024 at 5:39 a.m.
Less than three weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, federal prosecutors in San Diego filed felony immigration fraud charges against Omar Ahmed al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national and alleged intelligence agent who had lived for years in Clairemont and had helped two al-Qaeda hijackers settle in San Diego.
But for nearly 23 years the criminal immigration case against Bayoumi, filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, had remained sealed. That changed Tuesday, when an assistant U.S. attorney asked for the case to finally be unsealed. A judge granted the request.
The charges outlined in the newly public criminal complaint do not link Bayoumi in any way to the 9/11 attacks, instead alleging that he fraudulently filed immigration documents that he knew contained false information on two occasions in 1997. But the timing of when the case was filed reiterates, as has long been known, that Bayoumi was in the crosshairs of federal investigators just days after 9/11.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego declined to comment on the reason for unsealing the case this week. But the move, which is largely procedural, is believed to be related to a massive and long-running federal lawsuit in New York alleging the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supported the 9/11 terrorists.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/07/12/feds-in-san-diego-unseal-long-hidden-immigration-fraud-case-against-saudi-who-helped-9-11-hijackers/
