Atlantic City councilman charged with voter, unemployment fraud, lying to FBI

Atlantic City Councilman MD Hossain Morshed was charged Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with falsifying voter registrations, making false statements to the FBI about interactions with prospective voters and submitting false unemployment benefits claims with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Morshed, 49, the resort’s 4th Ward councilman, was accused of providing a prospective voter with an already filled-out voter registration form for his ward, even though the voter did not live in that ward nor at the address on the form, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

He is also accused of lying to the FBI when approached about the voter fraud accusations.

Morshed was lastly accused of accepting benefits from the New Jersey Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program despite being paid as a councilman and earning additional money on the side as a driver.

Morshed did not respond to a request for comment Friday evening. He was scheduled to appear Friday in Camden federal court before U.S. District Judge Ann Marie Donio.

According to court documents, in April 2019, in advance of the June primary election, Morshed gave a prospective voter a state voter registration application that had already been filled out and that falsely asserted the prospective voter had a residential address in the 4th Ward even though that person did not live there. Documents allege Morshed urged the prospective voter to sign the application anyway.

Subsequently, Morshed visited the prospective voter and their actual residence that wasn’t in the 4th Ward and presented them a vote-by-mail application to sign that included the same information as the registration application and listed another false Atlantic City address for where the mail-in ballot should be sent to the voter.

The Atlantic County superintendent of elections subsequently received the falsified voter registration application, and the county Board of Elections received the mail-in ballot that counted toward the June 2019 primary, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Lawfully recorded conversations between the voter and Morshed revealed possible questioning by law enforcement, and Morshed directed the voter to lie about where they lived and about who filled out the voter forms Morshed had given them, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

When Morshed was approached by the FBI, he said he had never provided any voter documents to any prospective voter, never assisted any prospective voter in filling out those documents and never collected any documents from a prospective voter, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Morshed also falsely said he never asked residents of municipalities outside Atlantic City to register to vote in the 4th Ward, documents alleged.

From April 2020 through September 2021, Morshed defrauded the Department of Labor of $39,208 in unemployment benefits to which he wasn’t entitled, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

False voter registration and false statements can each carry a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense. Wire fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Morshed is up for reelection in this November’s primary election. The Atlantic City Democratic Committee voted to support Morshed during a meeting Tuesday over challengers Charles Garrett, Abusaed Asduha and Torres Mayfield.

Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman called for Morshed to resign late Friday.

"While Councilman Morshed is entitled to a fair and impartial trial, and while everyone is innocent until proven guilty, it is clear that he can no longer effectively represent the residents of Atlantic City's Fourth Ward," Suleiman said. "He needs to resign."

Morshed was charged in September with assaulting his wife in their home and with endangering the welfare of a child. The 12-year-old allegedly recorded Morshed’s assault on his wife, identified in court papers as L.N., and was pushed and hit by the councilman as a result. L.N. alleged Morshed grabbed and bent her arm, causing her pain; pulled her hair and struck her in the leg. The child endangerment charge was downgraded in January to simple assault.

In July 2021, Morshed said he was assaulted in a parking lot at Atlantic and Florida avenues by six people after leaving Masjid Al-Hera mosque.

Morshed said the confrontation was because the alleged suspects were upset with Morshed being among the members of council introducing an ordinance that summer that would end the needle exchange program in the city.