Was John Lee Malvo collateral?

From the NYT: "Lee Malvo, the 17-year-old held in the sniper shootings near Washington, may have been handed over to the older defendant in the case, John Muhammad, by his mother as collateral to guarantee that she would pay for forged immigration documents, according to an Antiguan government report released yesterday."

(I can't get this page to load, but just from scanning the source, it looks like an apologia.)