I told ya so. Atlas readers will not be surprised at this at all. We are proven right again and again, although the enemedia never admits this. I wrote this in October 2010:
In a piece in Forbes late last year, (right before the Ground Zero Mosque was announced), Imam and slumlord Rauf extols the riches of fine living. Couture! Sports cars! Cuisine! And the world's finest prayer rugs (of course). This should solve the riddle of where our two million in taxpayer dollars were going, along with the million from the Dutch government, and his funding from Osama Bin Laden/AlQaeda-linked Saudi corporation XENEL, not to mention our funding his Middle East junkets.
While the tenants in Ground Zero mosque imam's slums in New Jersey suffer, Imam Rauf enjoys the finest offerings money can buy. Just last week, Rauf was summoned back to court (he didn't show, of course) as he was cited with more than 200 housing and health code violations over the past two months. A couple of months ago Union City filed suit against Rauf here.
Now it comes out that this sinister Islamic supremacist imam was financing this lavish lifestyle not just by ripping off his slum tenants and our taxpayer dollars, but by stealing from Ground Zero mega-mosque donors as well:
Mary Altaffer/AP
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, founder and CEO of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, is being accused of swiping donation money intended for the “Ground Zero” mosque to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.
The former imam of the controversial “Ground Zero” mosque used millions of dollars in donations to fund a high-flying lifestyle, a bombshell lawsuit charges.
The court papers, filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, say Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf pocketed $3 million from the Malaysian government and another $167,000 from private donors.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images
The proposed mosque building is on Park Place in Manhattan.
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The money — intended to fund The Shariah Index Project — was used by Rauf and his wife Daisy to buy real estate, lavish trips and vacations, entertainment and a luxury sports car, the suit charged.
Smith, Bryan, Freelance NYDN
The project was controversial from the outset because of the cultural center’s proximity to Ground Zero, where thousands died as a result of Islamic extremism.
The mosque project, also known as the Cordoba Center, was intended to combat anti-Islamic sentiment while educating people about the religion.
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Rauf was ousted as the religious leader of the planned Muslim community center in January 2011.
UPDATE: Here is the NY Times' take on the story, providing more details:
Donor, Citing Fraud, Sues Imam Tied to Mosque Near Ground Zero NY Times, February 5, 2013
The imam and former spiritual leader of an Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero is accused in a new lawsuit of defrauding donors to his nonprofit organizations of millions of dollars, using the money for personal real estate, lavish trips and a luxury sports car.
The suit against the imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, was filed on Monday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan by Robert Leslie Deak, a major donor to the imam’s nonprofit organizations, the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement.
Mr. Deak said in the suit that he donated $167,000 between 2006 and 2008 to a project to combat anti-Muslim sentiment. Instead, the suit alleges, Mr. Abdul Rauf used the money for entertainment and other personal purposes.
The lawsuit also accuses the organizations of not reporting on their tax returns approximately $3 million that the Malaysian government donated to the two organizations. Instead, according to the suit, that money was also taken by Mr. Abdul Rauf for his personal use.
Jonathan Nelson, the lawyer for Mr. Deak and his wife, Moshira Solimon, said that his clients first began to suspect in 2010 that fraud had taken place, and that they had “gathered the information in bits and pieces” by April 2011. The couple are asking for $5 million in punitive damages.
“They are just incredibly disappointed and shocked,” Mr. Nelson said.
In a statement, Mr. Abdul Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, an officer at the two organizations, said that they “emphatically deny the allegations contained in that lawsuit.”
“The lawsuit is meritless and it will be vigorously defended in the New York court,” the statement said.
The couple noted that the Cordoba Initiative is already suing Mr. Deak and Ms. Solimon for $1.5 million in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, accusing them of fraud and breach of trust.
