Hawaii man accused of lying for money to help Afghans enter the U.S.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Marty Anthony Muller was arrested just after 3:00 a.m. Monday at Honolulu’s Daniel K Inouye International Airport.

He had just arrived on a flight from the Marshall Islands, where he works as a contractor.

Agents with the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service escorted him to a waiting vehicle before taking him to the Federal Detention Center.

Muller is a United States citizen who worked as a contractor in Afghanistan until 2017 when he moved to Hawaii.

He was the only one picked up in the state, but two men, both originally from Afghanistan, are listed as co-defendants.

Mushtaq Ahmad Habibi is a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Virginia.

Daud Kalantari is a green card holder living in California.

They were also arrested Monday in their respective states.

The three are accused of falsifying documents, wire fraud, visa fraud & conspiracy for allegedly taking money to help hundreds of Afghans improperly obtain visas through the Afghan Special Immigration Visa program, often called SIV.

Tom Simon, a retired FBI agent, said SIV was designed to protect those who risked their lives in support of the U.S. overseas. But Simon said, “Fraud in this program poses a significant national security threat that we can’t afford to ignore.”

Retired Federal Public Defender Alexander Silvert agreed. “You want to let in people who actually faithfully provided a good service.” He said loyalties must be checked.

According to the criminal complaint, Muller wrote 368 letters of recommendation for Afghans applying for an SIV between 2018 and August of this year.

The letters are required from an employer to vouch that the person was an important part of the work.

But, the court records said Muller was not actually associated with most of those people.

He lied on at least 208 of the letters, the government alleges he got $500 for each one he wrote.

Simon said that doesn’t mean 208 people improperly entered the U.S., not all were able to obtain visas because the SIV program does have other requirements with multiple steps before it’s finalized.

The SIV program has been scrutinized recently.

Earlier this month, an Afghan national who had been approved for the special visa was arrested in Oklahoma. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi is charged for allegedly plotting an election day attack on behalf of ISIS.

Muller and the co-defendants are not connected to the Oklahoma case; the only common detail is that the SIV process was used.

Muller’s preliminary hearing is set for November 12.

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