Free Republic

Back in 2010, a group of Muslim investors wanted to build a mosque near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. This sparked outrage with millions of Americans who found it to be a slap in the face to allow a mosque to be built near such hollowed ground. The man behind it all was Hashim Elzanaty who along with eight other investors purchased the location and set the plans in place. But a famous billionaire New Yorker stepped in to stop the development. He did this by offering Elzanty $6 million to purchase the property from him — a dollar amount...

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.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The developer behind plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from ground zero kicked off fundraising for the project Friday by raising $10,000 in just a few minutes from a congregation of Muslim worshippers. Sharif El-Gamal announced the start of the funding drive at the conclusion of Friday prayer sessions that have been taking place since last year in the vacant Manhattan clothing store that is to be torn down to make way for the new center.