https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/nyregion/prestige-limousine-crash-schoharie.html

A driver with an improper license. A limousine company with a trail of failed inspections and ties to a scheme to illegally obtain driver’s licenses. And a limousine itself that had also been deemed unsafe.

Two days after a devastating limousine crash in upstate New York that killed 20 people, officials revealed new details about their inquiry that suggested that the trip never should have been allowed to happen.

The mounting questions about the accident increasingly centered on the limousine company, Prestige Limousine, which had a shoddy record, operated out of a back room in a low-budget hotel and had a history of suspicious dealings that seemed to extend to Dubai. On Monday, officials moved to suspend the company’s operations and seize its vehicles.

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The owner of the limousine company, Shahed Hussain, has the same name and address as that of a former informant for the F.B.I. who has testified in two prominent terrorism cases, according to public records. A law enforcement official suggested that his son may operate the limousine company.

The company is based at the Crest Hotel and Suites in Gansevoort, N.Y., a small town north of Albany, and on Monday, state troopers were at the hotel. The State Police said they had seized three vehicles, including another limousine, from the company and believed that Mr. Hussain was outside of the United States.

Arnie Cornett, the manager at the hotel, confirmed that the State Police were looking for the owner of the hotel and limousine company. Mr. Cornett identified the owner only as “Malik” and said he lived in Dubai. Mr. Hussain, the informant, went by Malik when he helped the F.B.I. infiltrate a mosque in Albany.

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