Director of Islamic Center (ITMIC) pleaded guilty to embezzlement

Ahmed A. Sh. Ahmed, 43, of Gahanna, former director of a local Islamic center pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to embezzling funds from the mosque, defrauding public housing, and filing for fraudulent COVID assistance funds. Ahmed admitted in federal court today to committing wire fraud, submitting a false statement and making a false statement.

From 2009 until March 2019, Ahmed was employed as the Director of the Ibn Taymiyah Masjid and Islamic Center (ITMIC) on Mock Road in Columbus.  During this period, Ahmed used his position of trust - the Inside Threat - to embezzle funds from the religious organization: Ahmed wrote unauthorized checks from ITMIC’s accounts to himself. Each year from 2015 through 2018.


Ahmed also defrauded the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority’s housing choice voucher program. From 2014 until at least 2020, Ahmed submitted false claims to obtain housing subsidies he would not otherwise qualify.


Ahmed falsely claimed his personal income was $18,000 annually and did not report any household assets. In reality, Ahmed and his wife deposited more than $235,000 into their bank accounts from 2014 through 2018.


Ahmed fraudulently applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance nine times from August until October 2020. During that same time frame, Ahmed generated at least $4,000 in revenue by producing and posting approximately 126 YouTube videos to his YouTube channel.

As part of his plea, Ahmed will pay more than $37,400 in restitution to the Islamic center.