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Essex County School Bus Company Owner Sentenced to Five Years, Faces $500K Penalty
Judge cites failure to conduct proper driver checks, unsafe buses, and attempts to conceal misconduct.
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ – In a case highlighting grave breaches of public trust, 66-year-old Ahmed Mahgoub, owner of the East Orange-based F&A Transportation, Inc., has been sentenced to five years in state prison for falsifying information to secure government contracts and for employing unlicensed or unqualified drivers.
The conviction stems from an investigation led by Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA), which uncovered multiple violations, including hiring drivers without valid commercial licenses or required criminal background checks, and operating unsafe buses used to transport schoolchildren.
“The defendant not only flouted government regulations and standards, he risked the lives of children by cutting corners,” said Attorney General Platkin. “He now will serve a substantial term in prison.”
Key Details
- Sentencing and Terms:
- Mahgoub’s sentence of five years imprisonment is in line with a plea agreement reached with the OPIA Corruption Bureau.
- Both Mahgoub and F&A Transportation face $500,000 in combined corruption profiteering penalties.
- Mahgoub and his company have been banned from conducting business with the State of New Jersey or its subdivisions for 10 years.
- Guilty Plea:
- “Mahgoub and F&A had pleaded guilty on March 6, 2024, to one count of false representation for a government contract (2nd degree).”
- F&A co-owner Faiza Ibrahim, 50, also of East Hanover, entered a pretrial intervention program on a separate third-degree charge of tampering with public records or information, which includes a 10-year ban on doing business with the State and a $75,000 penalty.
- Investigation Findings:
- Contracts from 2016 to 2020 covered public school districts in Essex, Passaic, Morris, and Union counties, totaling $3.5 million.
- F&A knowingly hired drivers with invalid commercial driver’s licenses, incomplete or nonexistent background checks, suspended licenses, and documented substance abuse issues.
- Company owners falsified vehicle inspection forms, claiming their buses passed daily inspections, despite official MVC inspections in February and August 2019 showing nearly all failed.
“The defendant skirted quality controls and oversight designed to ensure that qualified and trustworthy drivers were taking children to and from school each day,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA. “Those safety requirements are there for good reason, and circumventing them is unacceptable, as this sentence illustrates.”
Beyond immediate penalties, the decade-long ban on public contracts underscores the severity of the offenses, given the high stakes of student safety. Corruption Bureau Deputy Chief Frank Valdinoto prosecuted the case under the supervision of Corruption Bureau Co-Director Jeffrey Manis and OPIA Executive Director Skinner. Officials emphasize the State’s zero-tolerance stance on corruption in public contracting, particularly when children’s well-being is put at risk.
Mahgoub began serving his sentence after Judge Mark Ali, the Presiding Judge of Essex County’s Criminal Division, finalized the prison term and financial penalties in New Jersey Superior Court, Essex Vicinage. The conviction aims to send a clear message that compromising public safety for profit will result in significant legal repercussions.
