Yassin al-Qadi: the Hamas Connection
By Matthew Levitt
My colleagues Doug Farah and Victor Comras have posted excellent analyses of Yassin al-Qadi on these pages. To further flesh out Qadi's financing activities here in the United States, consider some of the material that came out of the federal civil trial in Chicago Boim V. Quranic Literacy Institute et al. Evidence produced at that trial revealed that FBI investigation concluded that al-Qadi played a central role in financing Hamas through a Chicago land deal and by paying the salary of a confessed Hamas operative. The trial, at which I served as an expert witness, led to a $156 million finding in favor of the Boim family and against QLI, Salah, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and others. This was one of the overview slides plaintiff's attorneys presented at the Boim trial.
Hamas terrorist operatives frequently hold day jobs working within the group’s social-welfare (dawa) system, which provides both a salary to live on and cover for their less charitable activities plotting and carrying out terror attacks.
One such example in the United States is the Quranic Literacy Institute’s (QLI) efforts to provide Mohammad Salah with a cover for his Hamas activities. Salah was involved in providing terrorist training to Hamas recruits and making trips to Israel and the Occupied Territories at the direction of Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook to provide funds and logistical support to Hamas. During the same time period, in 1990 and 1991, QLI arranged to provide Salah with $3000 monthly salary from Yassin al-Qadi. These chronologies were presented by plaintiff's attorney's at the Boim Trial:
The following graphic, also presented at the Boim trial, documents Salah's bank deposits from Yassin al-Qadi and others over this time period:
QLI also provided Salah with a letter verifying his employment with QLI’s Quran Project, which Salah used to obtain a mortgage loan on his home. Salah’s loan application identified QLI as his sole employer and his salary as being $36,000, equal to the $3000 per month QLI had arranged to have Qadi provide. Salah provided similar information to another bank in his application to open an account, and his account application was supported by oral verification of his employment with QLI by QLI’s Treasurer Ibrahim Abusharif. Yet QLI never issued Salah a federal W-2 tax form, never withheld taxes for Salah, and later denied employing Salah. QLI’s efforts provided Salah with a home, a bank account, a job and income – a veneer of legitimacy – which allowed him to pursue his activities on behalf of Hamas.
Qadi also financed a major land deal in Woodbridge (Chicago) through Golden Marble Corporation that ultimately benefited QLI to the tune of about $1 million. This graphic depicts that land deal:
At the same time, as evidence in the Boim trial laid out, QLI and others were financing Mohammad Salah and his activities on behalf of Hamas. This graphic was also presented at the Boim trial:
