This case involves several offences, including conspiracy, smuggling cultural property into the U.S., obstruction of justice, and citizenship and naturalization fraud, committed by the defendant Ijaz Khan with the assistance of several co-conspirators. In 2002, the co-conspirator Vera Lautt travelled to Pakistan to meet Ijaz Khan, whom she had met online, and to sign marriage documents. Subsequently, they both submitted fraudulent documents to the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), facilitating the immigration and later naturalization of Ijaz Khan. The defendant Ijaz Khan was, however, still married to a Pakistani woman, with whom he had and continued to have children, at the time of and after signing the marriage documents. According to the indictment, Ijaz Khan used his citizenship to enable the immigration and later naturalization of his four oldest sons. He divorced Lautt before the children had arrived in the United States. He further filed or assisted with petitions on behalf of his brother, Ibar Khan, his Pakistani wife, his mother, and another two children.

Following his immigration from approximately 2007 until May 2014, Ijaz and Fahad Khan, together with others, conspired to smuggle cultural artifacts (e.g., coins, pottery, arrowheads and bronze weapons) that were stolen from burial sites from Pakistan into the United States. The defendant used his company, Indus Valley, to sell the stolen cultural artifacts to his existing customer base, in person at shows, and online (on websites and auction sites, like eBay).

In October 2013, a shipment was inspected and seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Subsequently, Ijaz and Fahad Khan, together with their co-conspirator John Bryan McNamara, conspired to submit fraudulent documents purporting to be from the Pakistan government authorizing his export of the cultural artifacts and certifying the value of objects. McNamara had previously pleaded guilty to smuggling the artifacts into the U.S. and making false statements to special agents when interrogated about this shipment.

The defendant was identified as the leader and organizer of an organized criminal group made up of family members (e.g., wife and sons) and others who were not related to the defendant (e.g., McNamara). He played a central role in planning and operations, recruitment of accomplices, and controlled and exercised authority over others in the group. Because of his central leadership role, he received a sentencing enhancement, which he unsuccessfully appealed. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, a fine of approximately USD 115,000, and was required to forfeit more than 1,300 cultural artifacts. The defendant unsuccessfully appealed his conviction and sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Others in the organized criminal group pleaded guilty and were also sentenced for their roles in the conspiracy to commit smuggling, including Vera Lautt and John Bryan McNamara, who received four months’ imprisonment (and two years’ supervised release from prison) and two years of probation, respectively.