CAIR Involved in Criminal Fraud

September 3, 2008 – Washington, DC: The Mapping Sharia Project, a research project sponsored by the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), is issuing an alert that the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a self-described public interest civil rights law firm, may have engaged in criminal fraud Mapping Sharia calls for a full investigation by the appropriate government agencies. The victims of this fraud may also be due compensation for their losses and suffering.

Reliable sources have produced solid information that Morris Days, the Manager for Civil Rights at the CAIR MD/VA chapter, who was widely publicized by CAIR as one of its civil rights attorneys, was in fact not an attorney, and failed to provide services for Muslim American clients who came to CAIR for assistance and who paid for Days’ services. Not only has CAIR not revealed the facts about Days and his fraudulent, criminal behavior, but as of yesterday, September 2, 2008, the CAIR National office in Washington, D.C. continued to post articles at its website naming Days as an attorney. This amounts to a de facto cover-up of CAIR’s involvement in this criminal affair and a perpetuation of the fraud with CAIR’s assistance.

At the same time that CAIR promoted Days as a lawyer while knowing he was not, it continued to solicit donations for its “legal” representation of Muslims in civil rights cases. Prospective plaintiffs, who may have been victimized by CAIR’s fraud in the Morris Days affair, as well as any donors to CAIR who feel they have donated to CAIR under false pretenses thinking it was a legitimate and law abiding public interest law firm, should recognize that CAIR controls an extensive real estate asset portfolio, either owned directly by CAIR or by CAIR related companies. These assets are attachable and fair game for damages claims. A list of those assets, estimated at a fair market value between $6.6 million and $10 million, is provided below.

The evidence for the alert has been provided from Muslim American sources. A significant body of evidence has been obtained from these sources, which include individual citizens in several states, as well as Muslim American leaders who no longer support CAIR.

Copies of pertinent documents are provided for download as pdf files above.

Details of the Morris Days Affair follow…

In 2007, CAIR publicized and encouraged Muslim Americans to use the services of Morris Days as an attorney (see “Meet Our Resident Attorney!” CAIR MD/VA Chapter Newsletter for March/April 2007 - in CAIR National Promotes M Days as Attorney for Civil Rights.pdf file above), in which CAIR stated the following:

Days, a graduate of Temple University Law School, joined the organization in 2006. He specializes in criminal law and civil rights/social service advocacy law. He has been a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association and the American Bar Association since 1997. His professional achievements include receiving the Rosa Parks Wall of Tolerance Award in 2005, given by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

None of these claims were true. Morris Days’ claims to a law degree and membership in both Bar Associations were false. Morris Days is not a lawyer and never has been.

According to sources, Days represented himself as a CAIR civil rights lawyer to Muslim Americans, who paid him directly for legal services. In late 2007, these sources allege that the CAIR MD/VA chapter executive director, Khalid Iqbal, discovered that Morris Days was receiving payments directly from Muslims seeking CAIR’s assistance, and not passing the money on to CAIR. Iqbal was Morris Days’ supervisor and had previously worked in the CAIR national office. Iqbal did not fire Days at that time, nor is there any evidence that CAIR tried to verify Days’ legal credentials at the time. In fact, the CAIR national office posted an article describing Days as an attorney on December 24, 2007 (“Lawsuits End Citizenship Delays” - in CAIR National Promotes M Days as Attorney for Civil Rights.pdf file above). As of yesterday, September 2, 2008, that article was still posted at the CAIR national website, continuing to perpetuate the fraud that Morris Days was an attorney.

Days continued to work as Civil Rights Manager for CAIR MD/VA, to represent himself as an attorney, and to take money directly for legal services in 2007 and 2008. CAIR continued to employ Days through February 2008, at which time CAIR terminated his employment and shortly afterwards closed the CAIR MD/VA chapter office in Herndon, Virginia.

No evidence has been found that CAIR notified any government agencies or organizations about Days’ lack of legal credentials, including Temple University, the Philadelphia, D.C. and American Bar Associations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, or governmental officials to whom Days had written on clients’ behalf at the EEOC, FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Services, Social Security Administration or other federal, local and state offices.

CAIR did reply to some defrauded clients who had complained about providing payment to Days and not receiving services in return. Sources stated that in some cases Muslim Americans were reimbursed what they had paid only after signing statements threatening them with liquidated damages of $25,000 if they revealed any information about the Morris Days affair. Attorneys have advised us that it is possible these “release agreements” are not binding, and people who signed them should consult legal counsel to inquire about their options for pursuing further claims against CAIR. Clients were largely from the Maryland, Virginia and the Washington DC area. They had paid fees ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

A copy of the CAIR Client Release Form is provided above as downloadable pdf.

The Release Form states in part:

Recipient hereby agrees that at all times and not withstanding any termination or expiration of this Agreement, it will hold in strict confidence and not disclose to any third party any information regarding this Agreement or the aforesaid incident surrounding this Agreement, except as approved in writing by CAIR.

Recipient herby[sic] agrees that in the event of a breach of this Agreement CAIR will be entitled to Damages in the amount of $25,000.00 from Recipient for the purpose of conducting meetings, workshops, press releases, flyers and the like to reverse or [indecipherable] the damage to CAIR’s reputation caused by the Recipient’s Breach.”

“CAIR continues to put Muslim Americans at risk through the pretense that they represent them in any way,” said Dave Gaubatz, Director of Operations of Mapping Sharia. “CAIR is receiving support from big foreign donors, not because of their effectiveness in discrimination cases, but because of their false image in the media.”

List of CAIR Real Estate Assets

The following real estate properties are owned by CAIR or related companies including the Greater Washington LLC and Zahara Investment Corporation. Full documentation of property details, deeds and related filings are available above in a pdf downloadable file.

Address



Square



Lot



Purchase Date



Purchase Price

210 Parker St NE



750



123



4/12/2006



$419,000

203 K St



750



157



2/15/2005



$600,000

205 K St



750



158



2/15/2005



$600,000

208 Parker St NE



750



124



9/11/2006



$410,000

917 2nd St NE



750



125



1/21/2005



$660,000

919 2nd St NE



750



126



7/18/2006



$500,000

923 2nd St NE



750



128



1/6/2006



$1,225,000

929 2nd St



750



156



1/6/2006



$1,225,000

50 E St SE/453 New Jersey Ave SE



693



83



9/12/2002



$977,786

Total:












$6,616,786



About CAIR:

The Council on American Islamic Relations, founded in 1994, has been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial on funding for Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Officials who have left their positions at CAIR in the last year include Ahmed Bedier (ex-Director, CAIR Florida chapter), Parvez Ahmed (ex-Board Chairman, CAIR national office), Khalid Iqbal (ex-Director of Operations, CAIR national office and ex-Executive Director, CAIR MD/VA, now deputy director at the ADAMS Center in Herndon, VA), and Asra Rasheed (ex-accountant at both CAIR national and CAIR MD/VA) and Morris Days, ex-Manager of Civil Rights, CAIR MD/VA. According to The Washington Times newspaper (“CAIR membership plummets,” June 11, 2007) CAIR’s membership has fallen from over 29,000 in 2000 to fewer than 1,700 in 2006. Complete profiles on CAIR’s associations with terrorist organizations such as Hamas can be found at http://www.jihadwatch.org, http://www.discoverthenetworks.org, http://www.investigativeproject.org, http://www.danielpipes.org, http://www.anti-cair-net.org/, and http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/.

About Mapping Sharia

The Mapping Sharia project is an extensive mapping of all the mosques and Islamic day schools in the U.S. to determine which ones teach or preach Islamic law, or Sharia. Further, the mapping will scale the Sharia threat by identifying the level of Sharia adherence, the presence of literature and videos calling for violent Jihad, and whether imams and Islamic scholars advocate violent Jihad against non-believers. The project started in early 2007 and has now completed research on over 140 mosques across the United States. Dave Gaubatz, Director of Operations for the Mapping Sharia Project, is a former federal agent and counter-terrorism specialist, who has served in Iraq. The Mapping Sharia team is comprised of Muslim, Jewish and Christian researchers. For more information, visit http://www.mappingsharia.us .