SCHOHARIE – Attorneys for Nauman Hussain, the man accused of causing the 2018 limousine crash in Schoharie that killed 20 people, are seeking to delay the May 1 start of Hussain’s criminal trial in order to get their hands on a recently-completed internal FBI report on the bureau’s dealing’s with Nauman Hussain’s father, a longtime undercover informant who also owed the limo company involved in the crash.
Nauman Hussain, 33, has been free on bail since his April 2019 indictment on 20 counts each of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter, felonies that carry significant prison sentences.
The Oct. 6, 2018 limo crash in Schoharie is considered the worst highway transportation disaster in the U.S. in decades and one of the most high-profile limo crashes in state history.
What’s made the story even more complicated is that Shahed Hussain, the legal owner of the 2001 stretch Ford Excursion involved in the crash and the father of Nauman Hussain, is a long-time FBI informant on anti-terrorism cases.
Stories by the Times Union about the Hussains, who arrived in the U.S. from Pakistan more than three decades ago, revealed that Shahed Hussain would often use his FBI affiliation to bully people looking into his shady business practices, including code enforcement officers and people who claimed to have been defrauded by Shahed Hussain.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose district includes Schoharie County, a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, got FBI Director Chris Wray to conduct an internal investigation into the ties, if any, between Shahed Hussain, the FBI and his uncertified limousine company.
Last month, Stefanik said she was briefed by the FBI on its report into Shahed Hussain. Although Stefanik did not disclose any of the report’s contents, she said that she had “serious concerns” with the FBI’s undercover informant program.
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