NJ Councilman Submitted False Voter Registrations, Lied To FBI: Feds

ATLANTIC CITY– A New Jersey councilman has been charged after allegedly submitting false voter registrations, making false statements to the FBI and submitting fraud unemployment benefits claims with the state, authorities said.

MD Hossain Morshed, 49, a councilman in Atlantic City’s Fourth Ward, was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Friday with one count of fraudulent procurement and submission of voter registration applications, one count of making false statements and one count of wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.

Morshed was scheduled to make his initial appearance Friday before U.S. District Judge Ann Marie Donio in Camden federal court.

In April 2019, Morshed had allegedly given a prospective voter a New Jersey voting registration application that had already been filled out, and which falsely stated that the prospective voter had a home address in the Fourth Ward in Atlantic City, according to the case documents and statements made in court. He then urged the prospective voter to sign the application despite the incorrect information, Sellinger said.

Morshed also visited the prospective voter at the voter’s actual residence, presenting them with a vote-by-mail application to sign (which included the same false Atlantic City address on the voter registration and listed yet another false Atlantic City address), Sellinger said. Morshed directed the voter, if questioned by law enforcement, to make false representations about where the voter lived and who filled out the voter forms given to the voter.

When approached and questioned by FBI agents about the applications, Morshed lied about it, saying that he never provided any voter documents to any prospective voter, never assisted any prospective voter in filling out such documents, and never collected any such documents from any prospective voter, Sellinger said. Morshed also falsely stated that he had never asked residents of municipalities outside of Atlantic City to register to vote in Atlantic City’s Fourth Ward.

Separately, from April 2020 through September 2021, Morshed applied for and was approved to receive various unemployment benefits related to New Jersey’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, even though he was paid as an Atlantic City councilperson and had additional income as a driver. Morshed ultimately defrauded the state of $39,208 in unemployment benefits to which he was not entitled, federal officials said.

The false voter registration submission and false statements counts each carry a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.

The wire fraud count carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense.