A Pakistani national is accused of being the ringleader in a $22 million illegal game room and money laundering scheme in Houston.
On Wednesday, 720 law enforcement officers executed search warrants at more than 40 locations across the city. Millions of dollars were seized from accounts involved in the money laundering scheme and 31 undocumented immigrants were arrested for their involvement. They have been turned over to ICE officials.
61-year-old Pakistani national Nazir Ali has been identified as the suspected ringleader in the scheme. According to investigators, Ali used family members to run dozens of game rooms across the city. They would then launder money across real estate investments and other high-value assets. Ali also hired the undocumented immigrants to serve as armed guards in the game rooms.
Ali believed that one of the men that he hired was a corrupt officer, who was paid more than a half of a million dollars to keep authorities from finding out about the operation. It turns out that the “corrupt officer" was actually a fully cooperative agent who was reporting about the operation to law enforcement.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said that this was one of the largest money laundering busts in Texas in recent memory.
“This is likely the largest Houston-based operation into illegal money laundering on the federal side, at least in recent years, in terms of illegal game rooms,” he said.
The investigation reportedly lasted for at least five years.