Brian4Liberty
12-28-2008, 04:42 PM
Funny how the credit crisis has effected these poor crooks. Maybe this guy just needs a government bailout to keep his "personal business" going...
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_11322297?source=rss
"Abbi Vakil was hoping to strike a deal with Fry's Electronics to sell his company's iPhone battery when he first met Omar Siddiqui on the second floor of the company's headquarters on Brokaw Road.
Siddiqui, Fry's vice president of merchandising, wasn't tall, but he looked like he stepped out of the pages of a men's fashion magazine with his sharp tailored suit — the gold chains around his neck notwithstanding. Just as Vakil began his sales pitch, Siddiqui grabbed the $15 battery and flung it "like a Frisbee" into the credenza.
What happened next gives an indication of just how this high-level executive, the son of a Pakistani diplomat who was crazy about fast cars and blackjack tables, bullied his way over three years into $65 million in kickbacks from vendors for space on Fry's shelves to try to pay off his gargantuan gambling debts, according to federal authorities. It's an allegation the 42-year-old bachelor now faces in San Jose federal court.
If Vakil's company wanted to do business with Fry's, Siddiqui glowered at him, Vakil would have to pay him $20,000. "It just didn't make any sense,'' Vakil, now vice president at FastMac.com, told the Mercury News of the 2006 encounter. "How many products would we have to sell to make a profit? We could have been selling horse manure. All he cared about was, 'What's in it for me?'
"We didn't want to play his game."
Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, who most know as "Omar," was all about the game. Shaking down vendors was one game that federal authorities say he seemed to be good at; slapping down millions of dollars on blackjack and baccarat along the Las Vegas Strip was a game he could never win enough.
In the last decade, court records show, casinos from Vegas to Atlantic City, N.J., to Uncasville, Conn., have sued him for at least $15 million. His bank records show he spent $121 million in just three years at the MGM Grand and the Venetian on the Vegas Strip. The IRS slapped him with an $18 million lien, and last week Fry's fired and sued its former No. 5 executive, claiming he had failed to make good on $10 million in loans.
"Casinos call people like Mr. Siddiqui a 'whale,' '' said Eric Sidebotham, a Morgan Hill attorney who represents Siddiqui and other troubled gamblers. "He's a big carcass you can feed off for a long time. They will pick away at the carcass for every last penny until you are deep in the hole.''
Siddiqui was a regular at places like the Palms, tapping into the casinos' private credit lines for millions of dollars as if they were his personal banks, according to the lawsuits. None of the casinos or the employees on the floor would comment directly about Siddiqui.
With pockets full of big bills, he often would be escorted by a casino "host'' who would cater to his every need: spacious penthouse suites, flights to the Strip on casino jets, dinners and shows. As long as he kept coming back. And come back, he did.
Whether he was winning or losing, Siddiqui did it in style. He drove a Ferrari and a Mercedes, and kissed a San Jose SaberCats cheerleader from the Fry's-owned arena football team in the parking lot while employees watched.
"He acted like a king,'' said one man who worked security at several Fry's events, including where John Fry and Siddiqui played golf at the five-star CordeValle golf club in south Santa Clara County — a place where Siddiqui was known to rev his Ferrari, racing around the edges of the course.
But his house of cards tumbled Dec. 19, when federal agents swarmed Fry's headquarters in North San Jose. As Siddiqui was handcuffed and led down the stairwell past people who worked for him, he kept his head down, his eyes averted.
Not much sympathy
While Fry's expressed "shock'' by his behavior, more than a dozen current and past employees and vendors called or e-mailed the Mercury News in the days following his arrest to say there wasn't much sympathy for a man they described as obnoxious and somebody you didn't want to cross.
"He made everyone's life miserable," said one employee, who didn't want to be named for fear of being fired.
..."
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_11322297?source=rss
"Abbi Vakil was hoping to strike a deal with Fry's Electronics to sell his company's iPhone battery when he first met Omar Siddiqui on the second floor of the company's headquarters on Brokaw Road.
Siddiqui, Fry's vice president of merchandising, wasn't tall, but he looked like he stepped out of the pages of a men's fashion magazine with his sharp tailored suit — the gold chains around his neck notwithstanding. Just as Vakil began his sales pitch, Siddiqui grabbed the $15 battery and flung it "like a Frisbee" into the credenza.
What happened next gives an indication of just how this high-level executive, the son of a Pakistani diplomat who was crazy about fast cars and blackjack tables, bullied his way over three years into $65 million in kickbacks from vendors for space on Fry's shelves to try to pay off his gargantuan gambling debts, according to federal authorities. It's an allegation the 42-year-old bachelor now faces in San Jose federal court.
If Vakil's company wanted to do business with Fry's, Siddiqui glowered at him, Vakil would have to pay him $20,000. "It just didn't make any sense,'' Vakil, now vice president at FastMac.com, told the Mercury News of the 2006 encounter. "How many products would we have to sell to make a profit? We could have been selling horse manure. All he cared about was, 'What's in it for me?'
"We didn't want to play his game."
Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, who most know as "Omar," was all about the game. Shaking down vendors was one game that federal authorities say he seemed to be good at; slapping down millions of dollars on blackjack and baccarat along the Las Vegas Strip was a game he could never win enough.
In the last decade, court records show, casinos from Vegas to Atlantic City, N.J., to Uncasville, Conn., have sued him for at least $15 million. His bank records show he spent $121 million in just three years at the MGM Grand and the Venetian on the Vegas Strip. The IRS slapped him with an $18 million lien, and last week Fry's fired and sued its former No. 5 executive, claiming he had failed to make good on $10 million in loans.
"Casinos call people like Mr. Siddiqui a 'whale,' '' said Eric Sidebotham, a Morgan Hill attorney who represents Siddiqui and other troubled gamblers. "He's a big carcass you can feed off for a long time. They will pick away at the carcass for every last penny until you are deep in the hole.''
Siddiqui was a regular at places like the Palms, tapping into the casinos' private credit lines for millions of dollars as if they were his personal banks, according to the lawsuits. None of the casinos or the employees on the floor would comment directly about Siddiqui.
With pockets full of big bills, he often would be escorted by a casino "host'' who would cater to his every need: spacious penthouse suites, flights to the Strip on casino jets, dinners and shows. As long as he kept coming back. And come back, he did.
Whether he was winning or losing, Siddiqui did it in style. He drove a Ferrari and a Mercedes, and kissed a San Jose SaberCats cheerleader from the Fry's-owned arena football team in the parking lot while employees watched.
"He acted like a king,'' said one man who worked security at several Fry's events, including where John Fry and Siddiqui played golf at the five-star CordeValle golf club in south Santa Clara County — a place where Siddiqui was known to rev his Ferrari, racing around the edges of the course.
But his house of cards tumbled Dec. 19, when federal agents swarmed Fry's headquarters in North San Jose. As Siddiqui was handcuffed and led down the stairwell past people who worked for him, he kept his head down, his eyes averted.
Not much sympathy
While Fry's expressed "shock'' by his behavior, more than a dozen current and past employees and vendors called or e-mailed the Mercury News in the days following his arrest to say there wasn't much sympathy for a man they described as obnoxious and somebody you didn't want to cross.
"He made everyone's life miserable," said one employee, who didn't want to be named for fear of being fired.
..."