Profile Result

Jamal Barzinji
Last Updated: October 13, 2008

Of the dozens of charities and businesses operating out of 555 and 500 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia – all of which were raided by federal agents for their terror funding connections – al-Barzinji has been CEO or senior board member at virtually every one of them. He was also a client of GOP power-lobbyist Grover Norquist, the White House insider and Jack Abramoff partner, who arranged large Muslim contributions for the Bush presidential campaign.

Though his home and offices were raided, and many others in the Grove Street groups were indicted, al-Barzinji has never been charged with terrorism crimes. He remains the CEO of a major poultry company, which sent millions of dollars to the Grove Street groups’ umbrella charity, the SAAR Foundation (renamed The Safa Group in 2000).

Federal investigators had long suspected that the Grove Street charities and companies were funneling money to terrorist groups like Hamas and Al Qaeda, although no action was taken until six months after the 911 attacks.

Most of the entities were either funded or operated by a handful of Middle Eastern men. Barzinji’s co-director on most of the groups’ boards is Yaqub Mirza, whose direct business partners include SDGT 911 fugitive Yassin Al-Qadi, and Talat Othman, director of George W Bush’s former company, Harken Energy.

As with Barzinji, no criminal charges have been brought against Mirza.

Barzinji was an early representative of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) , whose United States Director was Abdullah Bin Laden, Osama’s half brother. WAMY was banned in several countries before being raided by the FBI in 2004.

Barzinji’s longtime business associate is Youssef Nada, an Egyptian banker who founded the Al Taqwa Bank.

In 2001 the US government named Al Taqwa a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organization and froze its assets. The bank acted as a vast Hawala, the Islamic broker system to transfer money without any record of sender and recipient identities. Al Taqwa also acted as money-laundering clearinghouse for the US based  SAAR charities, which redirected the funds to off - shore accounts, and ultimately to Hamas, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda. Youssef Nada himself was named an SDGT in 2002.

Barzinji continued as CEO of Mar-Jac Poultry, a large company part owned by the omnipresent SAAR/Safa Group as of 2008.  A U.S. Senate committee disclosed that in 1998 SAAR reportedly had $1.7 billion in revenue, which flowed to non-traceable accounts on The Isle of Man, then to Islamic terrorist fronts. SAAR claimed it was all a bookkeeping mistake.
In 2001, al-Barzinji hired the lobby firm Janus-Merritt Strategies, founded by Karl Rove intimate Grover Norquist, who bragged his Muslim connections were the reason George W. Bush was elected. Norquist

Norquist also co-founded the Islamic Institute, along with former SAAR executive Abdurahman Alamoudi, who then became a regular White House guest, seen in numerous one-on-one photos with President Bush.

That ended when Alamoudi was convicted of terror funding and plotting the assassination of Saudi royals. In 2004 he began serving a 23 year prison term..  

That same year, al-Barzinji spoke at the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America(ISNA), which he headed. During his address, he cast doubts on whether Al Qaeda coordinated the attacks of September 11th. “It is not only that we don’t have any proof, but the FBI doesn’t have any proof,” he said. “They are still looking.”

In 2005, Karen Hughes, the close advisor to President Bush, attended and spoke at Barzinji’s ISNA annual conference.

Categories

Homeland Security | Terror Funding | Information Technology | International Finance

Sources

  • Jamal al-Barzinji’s posts in 555 Grove Street entities:
  1. Chairman, Mar-Jac Poultry, Inc.
  2. Director, Safa Trust, Inc.
  3. Founding trustee, Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, Falls Church, Va.
  4. Secretary, North American Islamic Trust
  5. Officer, Safa Trust
  6. Officer, International Institute of Islamic Thought, Herndon, Va.
  7. Director, American Muslim Council
  8. Officer, World Assembly of Muslim Youth
  9. Officer, Grove Corp.
  10. Officer, Heritage Education Trust
  11. Officer, Mar-Jac Investments Inc.
  12. Officer, Mena Corp.
  13. Officer, Mena Investments Inc.
  14. Officer, Reston Investments Inc.
  15. Officer, SAAR Foundation
  16. Officer, SAAR Foundation Canada
  17. Officer, SAAR International
  • Perform New Search
  • Print This Profile
  • Email This Profile