Authorities search for man they say swindled United Nations
CLEVELAND - A convenience store owner took at least $57,000 that he swindled from the United Nations when he skipped town, a prosecutor said.
Mahmoud "Mike" Barghouty, 41, forged a check on the account of a U.N. development program for Zambia, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said.
Barghouty, indicted this month on charges that include theft and forgery, fled Cleveland before authorities could catch him, Mason said.
The prosecutor said Barghouty deposited a $57,000 check that was supposed to be from the U.N. into his convenience store account at National City Bank on Dec. 20, 2003.
The U.N. noticed a discrepancy in an account several months later and when Barghouty tried to deposit a second check drawn on the same U.N. account on March 9, 2004, the U.N. notified the bank to block the transaction. The second check was for $84,300.
The U.N. money was traced overseas, but the FBI and police lost the trail in the Middle East. They believe Barghouty, a Jordanian, is possibly in Syria.
It is not clear how Barghouty knew the correct routing number for a U.N. account or why he chose the struggling south African country of Zambia, Mason said.
Authorities have determined from public records that Barghouty has lived in Ohio since at least 1989. The records show he started a communications business in Akron and later a pager and cellular phone business in the Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted.
He registered his convenience store business with the state in 2000. but his name is listed on a Web site for Permaform, a Scandinavian building materials company. He is listed as the contact for sales in Arab countries.
Barghouty is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on theft, forgery and various other charges, but Mason said he doesn't expect Barghouty to show up.
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