PHILADELPHIA: June 4, 2019 – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamist group, agreed to mediation to avoid a fraud lawsuit, Lopez vs. CAIR. The American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) contested the suit with major funding from the Middle East Forum.

CAIR was accused of racketeering, breach of fiduciary duty, common law fraud, and much else because it allegedly defrauded hundreds of prospective clients in search of legal counsel. The lawsuit contends that Morris J. Days III, a CAIR employee, took money from Muslim clients in exchange for purported legal services. But Days was not an attorney, something that CAIR, according to the complaint (excerpted here), went to "Draconian and unconscionable" efforts to hide.

The lawsuit is but one example of CAIR's long and dismal record of dishonesty.

AFLC co-founder and senior counsel David Yerushalmi notes that "When we began this litigation 11 years ago, Daniel Pipes and the Middle East Forum stepped up to the plate to provide foundational financial and strategic support." While the terms of the settlement are confidential, "Lady Justice is smiling as a result of this support."

This case marks MEF's second major legal victory over CAIR in 2019. With substantial MEF funding, the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund kicked CAIR out of the San Diego Unified School District. A settlement in the federal lawsuit against the District ended its "anti-Islamophobia initiative," which: (i) singled out Muslim students for special protections; and (ii) empowered CAIR to change the District's curriculum to portray Islam more favorably.

"That CAIR settled when accused of fraud and conspiracy confirms the ugly nature of this organization," notes Forum president Daniel Pipes. "As a 2006 lawsuit already established, it is a terrorist-supporting front organization that seeks to overthrow constitutional government in the United States and the installation of an Islamic theocracy."