Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Ayman Rabadi, of Yonkers, New York, was sentenced to 37 months in prison after having pleaded guilty last May to a charge of wire fraud relating to his impersonation of a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “Rabadi’s actions were both criminal and heartless, as he used the authority and prestige of the FBI to lure victims into his greedy scheme. Today, he learned the price of his behavior.”

According to the complaint and information and statements made in prior proceedings in this matter in White Plains federal court:

From November 2010 until his arrest on April 18, 2013, Rabadi impersonated an FBI agent, and in doing so, obtained at least $180,000 and other things of value from individuals he promised that he could provide various forms of federal assistance. Rabadi was arrested shortly after he accepted $10,000 in cash from an undercover agent of the FBI who was posing as the niece of one of his victims. The money was purportedly a down payment toward the $300,000 Rabadi requested in exchange for obtaining the release of the victim’s relatives from jail. He was arrested immediately after leaving the Yonkers restaurant where the payment was made and was in possession of the $10,000.

Rabadi, 52, has an extensive criminal history that includes a 2008 conviction in the state of New Jersey for the felony of theft by deception. In that case, he created the false impression that there were criminal charges pending against a victim, that Rabadi was connected to law enforcement, and that he could resolve the charges favorably for $75,000.

In addition to the 37-month prison sentence, Judge Kenneth M. Karas ordered Rabadi to forfeit $190,000 in ill-gotten gains and to make restitution to a victim of his fraud in the amount of $180,000.

Mr. Bharara praised the work of the FBI in this investigation.

The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorney Elliott B. Jacobson is in charge of the prosecution.