DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – Mohamed "Michael" Ghanem has been living the high life, with a $10 million home in Boca Raton, a 65-foot yacht, trips in private jets, and the finest cars in the world, which he sold at the Domani Motors exotic car dealership in Deerfield Beach.
But his past caught up with him on Wednesday when federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives served search warrants at his home, business, and that yacht, called the Enigma.
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Ghanem had been convicted in 2002 of federal racketeering, a first-degree felony, after he and his brother Abbas Ghanem were charged with ripping off insurance companies at their family-owned auto repair shops.
Federal agents allege that despite that conviction, the two brothers had amassed 23 firearms that were seized from his brother's Boca Raton home. Federal agents arrested Ghanem at Domani Motors and incarcerated him and his brother on firearm possession by convicted felons.
Domani Motors, with its fleet of Bentleys, Ferraris, and Porsches, remains open because it is owned on paper by Ghanem's wife, Darlene Daik-Ghanem. On Friday, she distanced herself from her husband, calling him a "salesman," and stating that she was already in the process of divorcing him when the raid came down.
"It had nothing to do with my business, they were employees," she said. "I run a clean business and what happened has nothing to do with Domani. Is my husband an idiot? Yes, he's an idiot."
According to the criminal complaint, Ghanem told agents he had purchased the weapons in anticipation his civil rights would be restored, though he admitted they had not been.
Abbas Ghanem was released from federal detention on Thursday after posting an $800,000 bond.
Michael Ghanem, who faces up to 10 years in prison, remains behind bars prior to a magistrate court hearing set for Monday morning in Palm Beach County.
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