FBI agents say Ali Hammoud tried to pull off a caper worthy of the big screen.
Hammoud, 35, was minutes away from boarding an overseas flight in Miami when he was arrested on charges of wire fraud, according to an arrest warrant. Hammoud is accused of transferring millions of taxpayers' dollars into bank accounts in Beirut, Lebanon.
The $5.8 million was to be paid to Anderson Columbia, a road construction company, according to the arrest warrant. The money was supposed to be transferred into the construction company's account at Wachovia bank, but ended up in a Regions Bank opened by Hammoud, investigators said.
The state wired four large deposits into the account this month. Investigators said state documents were forged using a name that was taken from the construction company's Web site. State officials were tipped off to the switch when an accountant called about the missing pay checks, investigators said.
The state's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, said her department will look at their policies after the FBI finishes its investigation.
"Right now our focus is on making sure we can unwind all those transactions," said Tara Klimek, spokeswoman for Sink.
The state is still working to recover all of the missing money.
Federal agents are also investigating whether other state employees were involved in the wire fraud scheme. Hammoud is being held today in a South Florida jail.
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