Transforming Network Infrastructure Industry News

[September 08, 2011]

Trail of scam man Koranki heats up after Oklahoma City office building sale [Journal Record (Oklahoma City, OK)]

(Journal Record (Oklahoma City, OK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Businessman Mehran Koranki had every reason to disappear.

Koranki, 51, faced up to 20 years in federal prison and $6.2 million in restitution payments for a scam to submit fake warranty claims for faulty computer parts to telecommunications manufacturer Nortel Networks Co.

One of Koranki's Oklahoma City-based companies, SMC Electronics, also has a $10 million civil court judgment looming over it after Nortel Networks successfully sued in federal court over the warranty scam.

The scheme involved submitting fake warranty claims for computer parts to Nortel and reselling hundreds of thousands of dollars of replacement computer networking equipment at a profit.

Koranki's 25-year marriage had also recently ended in divorce, according to court records.

A recent real estate transaction may provide new clues to Koranki's whereabouts - some 10 months after he fled while free on bond.

Koranki went missing shortly after a federal jury in Oklahoma City found him guilty of 48 counts of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering in November, said attorney Mack Martin, who represented Koranki during his trial.

Martin said Koranki has Canadian citizenship, but he did not know where his client might have gone.

"I have no clue where he is and if I did I would be required by law to tell the (U.S.) marshals," he said, before declining to comment further.

The recent sale of SMC Electronics' now-vacant headquarters on Northwest Expressway may help federal investigators find Koranki. The 28,000-square foot, two-story office at 7250 Northwest Expressway sold at auction on July 13 for $1.23 million to a local family and youth counseling company. The sale closed on Monday, said Gordon Greene, a Cleveland-based real estate broker who handled the transaction. Koranki is listed with the Oklahoma secretary of state as the registered agent for the seller, Rockwell Investment Group. Rockwell Investment Group bought the office building in 2004, and county property records show no change in ownership since then. Greene denied having ever spoken to Koranki, and said he was unaware of his status as a fugitive or whereabouts.

Greene said he had been retained by Rockwell Investment Group and spoke to a man representing the company by phone in London, he said. Greene denied that Koranki was his client.

The federal government was scheduled to confiscate the office building on Northwest Expressway as part of Koranki's conviction, according to court records.

The U.S. Attorney's Office filed a notice that it would seize the building upon Koranki's conviction with the Oklahoma County clerk in February 2010, according to county records.

Greene said he was unaware of the pending government seizure.

SMC Electronics still maintains an office in Reading, about 40 miles west of London, according to its website. British corporate records indicated Koranki was a director at the company and his ex- wife, Susan Koranki, of Yukon was a secretary until June 2010.

A woman who answered the phone at SMC's Reading office on Thursday said she knew Koranki, but denied that he worked there.

Records indicated Saeed Corangi took over management of SMC Electronics in October. Koranki and his ex-wife, Susan, also signed over the deed to a house they once owned in Edmond to Corangi in 2008, property records show. Corangi transferred ownership of the 1,400-square-foot home over to a man named Michael D. Koranki in 2010, who sold the property in May, according to property records.

Attempts to reach Corangi, Michael D. Koranki or Susan Koranki were unsuccessful.

Susan and Mehran Koranki finalized their divorce in April 2008. The couple have six children together, according to court records.

Koranki was free on a $50,000 bond while awaiting sentencing late last year.

His last contact with the U.S. probation officer was on Dec. 6, according to court documents. Law enforcement officials launched an investigation into Koranki's whereabouts after he failed to check in with his probation officer.

The probation officer made multiple telephone calls and home visits, contacted family members in and out of the country and checked local hospitals before reporting him missing, according to court records.

A warrant was issued for Koranki's arrest in January, said Bob Troester, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.

(c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.

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