Accused Nonprofit Embezzler Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf ...

By Larry McShane
New York Daily News
February 10, 2013

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mosque-bandit-steals-wife-pilfering-allegations-article-1.1257309?localLinksEnabled=false

Daisy Khan, co-founder of the Cordoba Initiative, is noted in a $20 million lawsuit alleging her husband, imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, pilfered $3 million from two nonprofits — including her own

Rauf leaving his North Bergen home and getting into a limousine Wednesday morning. He's under fire for allegedly stealing from Muslim nonprofits.

The imam slipped past a Daily News reporter Wednesday morning, refusing to acknowledge the lawsuit.

AP An artist rendering of the proposed Park51 community center and mosque, a project which has struggled to raise money.

The controversial Rauf made headlines following 9/11 after announcing plans to build a mosque at 51 Park Place, less than three blocks from Ground Zero. Rauf is alleged to have rerouted cash given to the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement to line his pockets.

The took separate vacations — and cars.

Former “Ground Zero” imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife bolted their New Jersey home about 20 minutes apart Wednesday without addressing the pending $20 million lawsuit against him.

The ski-capped Rauf, 64, climbed into a waiting Lincoln Town Car, with his chauffeur and quickly zipped away from the two-story North Bergen house.

Spouse Daisy Khan fled earlier in her four-door sedan, pulling out of the long driveway past a Daily News reporter. Neither said a word before heading off.

The blinds in their house were drawn tight one day after a Westchester County couple accused Rauf of redirecting more than $3 million in donations to a pair of nonprofits into his pockets.

According to the Manhattan lawsuit, Rauf used the ill-gotten cash to splurge on gifts and luxury vacations with a Jersey gal pal.

The imam, who became a polarizing national figure in the debate over the planned mosque near the World Trade Center site, also spent money on a sports car, real estate and other unspecified entertainment, the suit charged.

Daisy Khan told The News she had never gone on vacation with Rauf, who relaxed abroad with his purported girlfriend Evelyn Adorno, said a lawyer for plaintiffs Robert Deak and wife, Moshira Soliman.

Khan and Rauf were both deeply involved with the allegedly looted nonprofits, the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

The two groups were created to battle anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

An attorney for Khan said the charges against her husband were bogus, adding they planned a “vigorous defense.”

The Internal Revenue Service, citing agency policy, declined comment Wednesday on the lawsuit’s allegation that Rauf lied on his nonprofits’ income tax returns in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

He was ousted in January 2011 from the proposed $100 million Park51 community center. Around the same time, Rauf’s feud with his friends-turned-plaintiffs began.

Deak accused Rauf of blowing $167,000 from their donations, along with another $3 million given by the Malaysian government. The Malaysian Embassy had no comment Wednesday on the alleged scam.

Fund-raising at Park51 remains stalled as the group seeks an application for tax-exempt status and continues a court fight with Con Ed over back rent on the property.

Park51 developer Sharif El-Gamal, for a second straight day, did not return phone calls about Rauf.

But Mayor Bloomberg, once a backer of the planned mosque, didn’t give the mosque and cultural center much of a chance.

“Their plans were to raise $100 million. (They raised) $18,000,” the mayor said Wednesday. “I think . . . that’s enough of a story line.”

Contact: mlysiak@nydailynews.com