EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — 41-year-old Zubair Mehmet Abdur Razzaq Al Zubair and 30-year-old Muzzammil Muhammad Al Zubair are both facing a 22-count federal indictment charging them with multiple fraud and money laundering schemes.
A 35-page filing detailed each charge ranging from June 2020 to August of 2023. Prosecutors claim they tricked victims out of nearly $10 million.
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They face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, four counts of money laundering, and one count of theft of government funds. Zubair is also facing one count of harboring a fugitive.
Zubair allegedly claimed to be a prince married to a princess in the United Arab Emirates, often using the title "his excellency" in his correspondences. He lived in the UAE from 2008-20, according to the indictment.
He's accused of falsely claiming he was "extraordinarily wealthy" with connections to leaders in multiple foreign countries. His brother, Muzzammil, allegedly claimed to be a hedge fund manager, but the documents said he was not registered and his only education was from watching YouTube videos.
The two are owners of Dubai Bridge Investments. Their website (still active as of Tuesday) says they're from East Cleveland, headquartered in both Dubai and North America, and call themselves "international economic advisors" to the city of East Cleveland and the mayor.
"I've never heard of that position, nor has anyone else that I've talked to at City Hall," Former East Cleveland Deputy Clerk of Council Justyn Anderson told 3News.
Anderson, who is also president of the East Cleveland Civil Rights Commission, admits the brothers and their family are well known in the city, and that their dad worked at the recreation center for years.
"You had two people who grew up poor in East Cleveland, like most of the people here, who were faking to be associated with the royal family," Anderson observed. "That's what the shock was."
Read the full indictment below:
The Department of Justice says in one scheme, the suspects claimed to own Nela Park — GE Lighting's headquarters — and took roughly $3 million from a cryptocurrency miner in China looking to bring equipment to the site. The indictment states they even toured the campus with the victim, then took them to East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King's office to sign a contract.
In another alleged investment scheme, Zubair and Muzzammil took more than $860,000 from a victim living in the UAE to invest in an oilfield. They altered their bank accounts to make it look like they had more money than they actually did.
The two also allegedly tried to rip off COVID-19 relief funds meant for small businesses, and were evicted after damaging and not paying rent at a home in Bratenahl.
The indictment states the two spent their stolen money on luxury vehicles, private jet travel, a stay at a high-end hotel in Cleveland, multiple restaurants, and even the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, among quite a few other expenses. Prosecutors contend Zubair, in particular, established a controlling romantic relationship with victims to make it less likely that they would question or challenge his actions.
On Wednesday, the two brothers went before a federal judge by phone at the Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse in Cleveland. Muzzammil filed a motion to push back the trial start date of March 25, to which his other brother and the prosecutor had no objections. In the meantime, another pretrial has been set for March 18.
Also on Wednesday, WKYC asked East Cleveland Councilor Patricia Blochowiak about the case and the city's involvement. She claimed the mayor never told her about it until the indictment came out.
"I knew nothing about this," she said. "He did not inform Council.”
Then, with a tone of frustration, she called the situation "ludicrous."
"This is surreal," she lamented. "For one thing, [the mayor's] got no business doing anything with any kind of international anything when the city is getting deeper and deeper into fiscal emergency, and he thinks he can do something with international economic advisors? I mean, this is bizarre."
Ward 3 City Councilor Lateek Shabazz also said he knew nothing about it.
"Well, first of all, I didn't think the mayor would be that stupid to get involved in something like that," Shabazz said. "I really kind of want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think that's crazy if that happened. If he had people signing contracts, that's ridiculous."
3News asked the two councilors if they would be asking King about the case at an upcoming Council meeting.
"We're just going to ride it out and see what happens," Shabazz said. "We don't have enough information to do anything at this moment. We just got to ride it out and see what happens."
As for Blochowiak, she said she couldn't comment on Council plans regarding the indictment or the mayor's involvement. King has had an acrimonious relationship with legislators in recent years, and last December survived a recall attempt partly led by Blochowiack and former Council President Juanita Gowdy.
WKYC stopped at King's office to ask him about the case Wednesday. His executive assistant told us they have no comment at this time, but she would make sure the mayor got our request.
We also asked GE Light for its reaction to the indictment, given Nela Park's role in it.
"In the Summer of 2022 NELA Park was for sale," responded Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Ben Sabol. "We were approached by these individuals and gave them a campus tour. Nothing ever came from this contact. We learned of the allegations of this indictment when they were reported in the media."
A telephone pretrial is scheduled for this Wednesday, with the trial set to begin on March 25.