David Ryan, was a personal injury lawyer from Pinecrest and had worked as an attorney for 13 years before he was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court for misusing money held in client trust accounts. His bankruptcy petition in 2010 was dismissed due to failures in paperwork.
On information of a deal having been struck, Ryan mailed the guns from Miami to a sporting goods store in Ridgefield, NJ. On July 17, he arrived in New York to close the deal. The arrest report mentions that Ryan told one of the undercover agents that he was “absolutely, completely and totally positive that these guns are from Iraq” and were worth more than $1 million.
The weapons in question include two pistols stamped with the initials “Q.S.” and thought to be the initials of Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, who was destined to assume Saddam Hussein's seat. Qusay Hussein was killed by U.S. soldiers in July 2003.
Other weapons in the cache included two German pistols with gold inlay, two Cosmi 12-gauge shotguns, and a Chinese-made pistol having the flag of Yemen on its grip.
However, Ryan's lawyer, Edward O'Donnell IV, said that Ryan believed the guns had been legally obtained, and that his attempts to sell the guns were legitimate. Ryan showed the guns to a licensed dealer, and shipped them to New Jersey through a licensed dealer.
The arrest report does not mention how the guns had been obtained from Iraq, and Ryan's lawyer maintains that Ryan obtained them legally from genuine people. Ryan was arrested on Dec 19 and has been charged with conspiracy to sell stolen property and unlawfully mailing firearms.
The Iraq embassy in Washington maintains that the guns are property of the Iraqi government.
