Imam Rauf ran slums in Union, New Jersey, as the city’s “worst landlord.” Sharif el-Gamal, who famously opined that “when you beat up someone physically you get exercise & stress relief,” was evicted from his SoHo office over $39,000 in back rent, and was found to owe $21,000 in fines on a property with 13 violations, along with other unanswered questions about his financial dealings.
We’ve also known the mosque developers were tax deadbeats to the tune of $224,000. In an application for tax-exempt status, Rauf claimed to operate a mosque that could hold 500 people, but in reality was an apartment that could not hold so many worshipers if they were crammed in like clowns in a Volkswagen. Rauf has also filed a false tax return.
And now there’s this. One Union City resident said of Rauf: “he doesn’t take care of this building or the building around the corner, and he’s going to take care of a mosque?” Similarly, we’re supposed to believe this collection of individuals, lionized in the press as heroes of multicultural progress (and “healing“), is operating on the level despite an extensive, demonstrable history of bungling and so many allegations of outright fraud.
“Mosque man robbed us: insurer,” by Kieran Crowley for the New York Post, August 22 (thanks to Twostellas):
The self-proclaimed leading moneyman behind the Ground Zero mosque ran a $5.1 million insurance scam that cashed in on car-accident injuries, a lawsuit alleges.
Hisham Elzanaty, 52, ran the “highly developed and sophisticated kickback scheme” for years, Allstate Insurance claims in a federal suit on Long Island.
The scheme routinely submitted inflated medical bills to Allstate and involved illegal fee-splitting, court papers say.
Allstate claimed that Elzanaty fraudulently incorporated medical professional corporations in The Bronx — which were then used to bill the company for care of patients involved in wrecks.
The operations were fraudulent because Elzanaty is not a licensed medical professional, as required by law, court papers say.
Elzanaty did not return requests for comment.