The owner of the limousine that crashed in Schoharie, NY, killing 18 people on board and two pedestrians, is a former FBI informant who testified in two high-profile terrorism cases, a state official confirmed Monday.
Shahed Hussain owns Prestige Limousine in Wilton, the official said. The limousine company is being scrutinized as federal and state investigators try to determine what caused the crash.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the limo involved in Saturday’s crash at the intersection of routes 30A and 30 failed a state Department of Transportation inspection last month and should not have been on the road.
The driver did not have a proper license to operate the vehicle, Cuomo said.
Prestige Limousine shares a business address with the Crest Inn Suites & Cottages in Wilton, a motel that is also owned by Hussain.
Hussain lived at the motel but manager Arnie Cornett on Monday said Hussain moved about 18 months ago. He still owns the motel and continues to operate the limo company.
An official said Hussain owns the business but the limo service might be operated by a son.
Hussain went by the name “Malik” when he owned a home in Loudonville and was used by the FBI in Albany to infiltrate a Central Avenue mosque. Yassin Aref, an Iraqi refugee, was imam of the mosque and the main target of the sting that began in 2003. Aref and an acquaintance, Mohammed Hussain, a Bangladeshi immigrant who owned a pizza shop, were both arrested in 2004 and accused of laundering money for Mohammed Hussain in connection with a fictitious terror plot.
They were convicted in 2006 and both sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Shahed Hussain went to work for the FBI after being convicted of federal fraud charges in 2002 in Albany. He was taking payments from immigrants, some of whom could not read English, in a scheme to cheat on state exams to obtain driver’s licenses.
In May 2009, he again surfaced as an FBI informant when four men from Newburgh were charged with conspiring to plant explosives outside the Riverdale Jewish Center and Riverdale Temple in New York City. As in the Albany case, Shahed Hussain posed as a wealthy businessman and befriended the men before implicating them in a terror plot.
The four Newburgh men, Laguerre Payen, James Cromitie, Onta Williams and David Williams, were convicted but the FBI’s use of Shahed Hussain drew harsh criticism and raised entrapment questions.
Was there a crash? Can’t find a record, you must be mistaken.
/s
I frikkin knew it. Stopped to see my sister yesterday and this (the accident) was on the news. When they gave no info on the driver, I told her I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a Muslim outraged that there were uncovered women drinking alcohol in the limo and he snapped. Sad.
@billy – my exact thought. 20 people in one crash is rather a big deal.
A Google search shows stories on main news sites. Amazing that 18 died in the vehicle, had to be nearly everyone.
Something about this story stinks like a hogs ass. How do 18 people die in a limo, and when you see pictures of the limo being pulled from the ditch there isn’t even any broken windows?
Zero survivors. Not the original vehicle but their bus broke down and they ended up with a piece of crap vehicle. Hard to say whether it’s the driver’s fault at this point but clearly a poorly maintained vehicle.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/nyregion/prestige-limousine-crash-schoharie.html
I bet he was able to acquire both business’s with money given to him by our government.
Cuomo values illegals and muslims more than he does everyone else.He even said so.
LCD, there was idle speculation on the news about brake failure, but I think it is possible the guy was on his phone. I had a muslim cabbie in upstate NY Saturday, and I had to tell him to put the goddam phone down and watch the road.
Again, businesses run in a fashion that most businesses couldn’t get away with.
It’s the old affirmative action for muslimes, minorities, and demoncrats.
They don’t know better, can’t do better, and no ethic to do better so we’ll grade them on a curve?
Exactly, Hans. Bringing that 3rd world, seat of the pants fatalism and corruption to USA with no respect for our ways.
Cuomo will see to it that no Muslims are touched by the legal left system. 2 people standing in the parking of the apple orchard parking (a busy place this time of year) lot were killed. The guy went though a stop sign, so they say.
How the fudge do we know this assholes life story in 36 hours but know nothing of Swetnik, Ford and every other democrat fuk stick in the news?
Cuomo will insist that this illustrates the crying need for more gun control.
Check his phone….was the driver texting allah snackbar at the time?
We all are very sad because of so many innocent lives lost due to criminal negligence on part of limousine company & those involve must be punished.
But I am little concerned that Everyday accidents happen, but no body says that the driver was hindu , jew or a christian.
Why in this particular incident name MUSLIM is publicize , what is the involvement of religion in this case.
“what is the involvement of religion in this case”
Trying to figure that one out myself. In the normal course of events the FAKE NEWS media covers up any connection even when it is apparent that it is Islamic extremism
I believe that this tragic event was an act of terrorist jihad. Bring in Homeland Security…connect the dots…. it was intentional.
“what is the involvement of religion in this case”
Let’s see, it took an effort to find out the owners name, New York, multiple deaths, suspicious that 18 dead in on vehicle and it appears all the windows on one side are intact (the other side hasn’t been shown), the muslim owner is suspected of murder in pockiston, flips on his friends in a terrorism case. What could the religion of peace have to do with this? I don’t know, maybe you’re right.
AS a truck driver i know that road is a 12% grade/very steep. Trucks are prohibited for that reason..brakes will overheat and fail. The limo was a Ford Excursion extended into a limo. If its brakes were not upgraded it would be unable to hold the weight of that vehicle and passengers down the length of the hill. Once the brakes were over heated the car was coasting gaining speed. The inspection had failed on the car for brakes also. Whoever sent that vehicle out on the road is at fault for the deaths. If my reading is correct the owner is an FBI paid informant and will be protected..very sad. The people involved should file suits and attach any property asap..and have the owner detained .before he sends the money he has overseas and vanishes. He will have help getting away thru his association with the FBI> GOVERNOR CUOMO DO YOUR JOB>>ARREST THE PERP and hold him until the facts come out.I already see signs of this being washed under the carpet.
More and more, I am concerned about the taxpayer outlay to track these folk, to bribe them, to incarcerate them, to do the damn paperwork…..!!!
I just want them never, ever, to be in the United States of America in the first place.
…..Lady in Red