Two former officers of a U.S.-based Islamic charity were indicted on federal charges accusing them of lying to authorities investigating the charity's alleged ties to terrorist organizations. Emadeddin Muntasser, the former head of Care International, and Muhammed Mubayyid, the group's former treasurer, were arrested Thursday following their Wednesday indictment on charges of concealing information from federal agencies, conspiring to defraud the United States, and making false statements to the FBI. The charity is now defunct.| The name suggests they were riding on CARE, which is a legitimate charity that's been around for at least 60 years... |
Reached by phone at his home late Thursday, Muntasser declined to comment, saying he may make a statement on Friday through his attorney. A message left at a phone number for Jumana Munlla, who is listed as Mubayyid's wife in his bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester, was not immediately returned. Muntasser, 40, the owner of the Logan Furniture chain and a Libyan national, was a founding president of the Boston-based charity Care International. The organization, which is not affiliated with the global relief group CARE International, has been scrutinized because of its links to groups that support terrorism.
Mubayyid, 40, Care's treasurer, has been employed by a software firm that was in the news two years ago after federal agents searched its offices as part of an investigation into funding of terrorist groups. No charges were ever brought against the software company or its officers. Mubayyid donated $360 (?282) to the Alkifah Refugees Center in New York, according to a receipt obtained by The Investigative Project, a group that investigates radical Islamic organizations. The New York organization was named by federal prosecutors as the center of the conspiracy to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993.
| Yeah, but 360 bucks doesn't make him the group's biggest donor. I'm assuming they've got more than that on him... |