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R E L A T E D C O N T E N T
CHARLES TRAINOR JR./ MIAMI HERALD STAFF
PROVEN INNOCENT: Shlomo Ben-Tov, a top Hyundai distributor, successfully fought an extradition to the Dominican Republic.
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M O R E N E W S F R O M
• Dominican Republic
• Central America
• World News
Posted on Wed, Mar. 08, 2006
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Multimillion-dollar car deal turned to legal nightmare
A multimillion-dollar sale of vehicles to the Dominican Republic seemed like a winning deal for a Miami businessman. It turned into a legal nightmare that almost ended with him being sent to the Caribbean nation on false bribery charges.
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
Life was good for Shlomo Ben-Tov. He was married with three sons, lived in a comfortable home in posh Pinecrest and had a high-paying job as Hyundai's distributor for Latin America.
Until the afternoon of Aug. 15.
That's when three U.S. marshals marched into his Palmetto Bay office and handcuffed him on a warrant issued by the Dominican Republic. The charge: bribing top Dominican government officials who approved a $56 million contract for the purchase of Hyundai buses and trucks.
Ben-Tov spent seven months in a closet-like cell at the Miami Federal Detention Center -- linked to his wife and three sons by brief daily phone calls -- as he desperately fought the Dominican government's extradition request argued by the U.S Attorney's Office.
Ben-Tov, who goes by the name Sam Goodson, came within a whisker of becoming the first U.S. citizen ever extradited to the Dominican Republic, based on Justice Department records dating to 1963.
To stop the extradition, Ben-Tov and his lawyers successfully proved that the Dominican government's evidence of bribes -- Hyundai money and vehicles -- was entirely fabricated by current Dominican officials. Ben-Tov accused those officials of framing him to smear the previous Dominican administration that did the 2001 Hyundai deal.
''I don't understand how something like this could happen in the United States,'' Ben-Tov, 41, said on Monday, one week after his release. ``It was not an extradition; it was a kidnapping.
''Today, the Dominicans did it to me,'' said Ben-Tov, who moved to Miami two decades ago as an Israeli immigrant. ``Tomorrow, they could to do it to someone else. They will have to pay for what they did. They are corrupt.''
Said his wife, Elena: ``We felt trapped. It was the opposite of everything you believe in -- guilty until proven innocent, not innocent until proven guilty.''
On Tuesday, the Dominican Republic's embassy in Washington said it was fully aware of Ben-Tov's extradition case, but declined to comment.
POSSIBLE FRAUD
In Miami, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber suggested the Dominican government may have deliberately altered documents to secure Ben-Tov's extradition. In October, he had granted the Dominican government's request, based on the low legal threshold for extraditions. He then reversed himself last month citing possible ``fraud or misrepresentation.''
Ben-Tov and his lawyers -- former U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis and ex-federal prosecutor Michael Tein -- said they were stunned by the extent of bogus Dominican government documents but spooked that he could still be extradited on false charges.
''As we looked at this case from every perspective, it was clear to us that the Dominican government's allegations were falsified and their documents were falsified -- that Shlomo Ben-Tov was an innocent man,'' said Lewis, who took over the case from another prominent lawyer, Ed Shohat. ``But he came within a breath of being extradited.''
Ben-Tov's business dealings with the Dominican government began in 2000, just after he had sold hundreds of Hyundai trucks to a Panamanian businessman.
The Dominican deal promised to be even bigger. Newly elected President Hipolito Mejia launched a major public transportation project that included buying 5,000 vehicles.
Thanks to Ben-Tov, Hyundai was the only foreign distributor to win a piece of the Dominican government's contract -- 1,012 buses and trucks for $56 million. Hyundai arranged financing through European banks.
''It was good for both countries,'' Ben-Tov recalled. ``Everything was perfect.''

Read rest of Story here:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14047262.htm

Now this is some scary shit for someone living in the Dominican Republic as well as anyone doing business here. I hope I hear something that has a different slant on this story soon or else I am going to be just a little worried!

Hasta Pronto!