Man sentenced for defrauding Arizona-based charity
Jun 13, 2012, 3:03 PM | Updated: 3:03 pm
PHOENIX – A former board member of an Arizona-based Islamic charity has
been sentenced to 141/2 years in state prison for defrauding members of the
group.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that Mohammad Reza Amin-Sobhani also must pay more
than $3.2 million in restitution to victims and serve five years of supervised
probation after his prison term.
The 61-year-old Amin-Sobhani, of Tempe, was formerly on the board of the
Al-Mahdi Benevolent Islamic Foundation of Arizona.
Authorities say Amin-Sobhani used his standing in the Islamic group to convince
other organization members to invest money into an entity he owned, promising
low-risk investment opportunities with high-interest returns.
He was charged with multiple felony counts of fraud, securities fraud and the
sale of unregistered securities. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office says
Amin-Sobhani received nearly the maximum sentence.
