Ohio brothers who posed as Middle Eastern royalty receive lengthy sentence for $21M fraud scheme
Two Ohio brothers who posed as Middle Eastern royalty were sentenced Tuesday for their roles in a series of fraud schemes totaling roughly $21 million, which prosecutors say were carried out with the help of a former East Cleveland mayoral aide.Zubair and Muzzammil Al Zubair, roughly 42 and 31, were sentenced to 24 and 23 years in prison, respectively, according to local outlet Cleveland. “You stole a lot of money, defrauded people and put East Cleveland in a terrible light,” US District Judge Donald Nugent said, referring to the brothers.“You basically flaunted it by driving around in a Rolls Royce and taking private planes.”The mayoral chief of staff the pair bribed, 56-year-old Michael Smedley, was also sentenced to just over eight years behind bars for providing the brothers with the cover they needed to carry out their schemes between 2020 and 2023, according to the outlet.Authorities said the brothers built a façade of extreme wealth and elite connections, with Zubair falsely claiming to be married to a United Arab Emirates princess, and Muzzammil claiming to be a hedge fund manager based solely on watching YouTube videos.Their lavish lifestyle ultimately included private jets, luxury watches, a fleet of high-end vehicles, dozens of firearms and even a custom-made, gold-plated AK-47-style rifle.They also chartered private jets for domestic and international shopping trips to destinations such as Aspen, Miami, London, Bucharest and Madrid, according to federal officials. Prosecutors said that over the years, the brothers carried out multiple schemes to steal money and property from victims, including Zubair’s former girlfriend, from the UAE, who lost $737,000, the outlet Cleveland reported.Another major scheme involved the brothers allegedly bilking a Chinese investor out of nearly $18 million by falsely claiming they owned an industrial complex and would bring a cryptocurrency business to the site, the outlet said. To facilitate their crimes...