Shah extortion trial begins with arraignment

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Shah extortion trial begins with arraignment

09/13/2012

By WeHo News staff, West Hollywood, California

A West Hollywood man accused of trying to extort $13 million from a West Virginia coal executive was arraigned Tuesday in Beckley, WV.

WeHo resident Vivek Shah appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Clarke VanDervort.

Mr. Shah, an aspiring actor, was indicted last month on charges he threatened to kill relatives of Foresight Reserves owner Christopher Cline if Cline didn't pay up.

Court documents charge that Shah targeted four other wealthy but unnamed victims, although media reports do name them as movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in New York, , Eric Lefkofsky, billionaire co-founder of Groupon in Illinois, Terry Pegula, a Florida oil executive and owner of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, the daughter of the late oilman Dan Duncan, a Texan.

Vivek Shah did his best to present himself as a player in the film industry, gathering as many photos as possible with celebrities like this one with Alec Baldwin.

U.S. District Judge Irene Berger issued a gag order in the case last week, limiting access to court documents to participants in the case and court staff.

Berger also ordered the parties, their attorneys, witnesses, alleged victims and their relatives, investigators and court personnel not to speak to the media or release any information about the case.

Mr. Shah was arrested after a May 22 incident in which West Hollywood Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a bungalow Mr. Shah shared with a female roommate named Stephanie Harris on a domestic violence call.

Ms. Harris called because of a violent outburst by Mr. Shah over his placement of cat food in the recycle bin that left her foot bleeding.

Said Ms. Harris when obtaining a restraining order after the incident, “"[Mr. Shah] stormed into my room in a violent rage and slammed my door open so hard, it scraped the skin on the top of my foot and it started bleeding.”

When the deputies arrived, they asked for ID from them both, but found Mr. Shah in possession of a fake driver’s license in the name of Ray Amin - the same name and driver’s license used to rent the mailbox from which the alleged extortion letters were sent.

Mr. Shah was later picked up when the connection between his fake IDs and the extortion plot became clear.

An affidavit filed by a U.S. postal inspector who investigated the case says Mr. Shah, who also uses the aliases Ray Amin and Rohan Gill, was staying at his father's home in Schaumburg, Ill., just before his arrest.

He is charged with four counts of interfering with interstate commerce and using interstate commerce to threaten extortion

The scheme laid out in the affidavit was ambitious and wide-reaching, involving offshore banks in Cyprus, Antigua, Malta and Mauritius.

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