The biological mother of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed previously worked for an Islamic charity that was later designated by the U.S. Treasury Department over allegations that its international network provided financial support to Osama bin Laden and other extremist groups, according to government records and recent reporting.
Fatten Fathy Elkomy worked for the Islamic American Relief Agency, or IARA-USA, beginning in 1999 and remained associated with the organization for several years, according to a report by The Midwesterner cited by The Western Journal.
The organization was the American branch of a larger international relief network that came under federal scrutiny in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In 2004, the Treasury Department designated the international IARA network, citing information that overseas branches had provided financial assistance to Osama bin Laden and organizations associated with him.
Treasury said IARA had previously been affiliated with Maktab Al-Khidamat, an organization co-founded and financed by bin Laden that preceded al-Qaeda. The department also said international IARA offices provided financial support to bin Laden and participated in programs that assisted Taliban fighters.
According to Treasury, overseas branches of the organization provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to bin Laden in 1999.
The designation involved the broader IARA network and does not establish that every employee of its American branch knew about or participated in the activities cited by federal authorities.
Newly highlighted court documents reportedly show Elkomy’s name appearing on financial paperwork and correspondence connected to the organization’s operations in Iraq.
One document cited in the reporting involved a request for $24,607.34 to be transferred to an Iraq office. A subsequent court record reportedly documented a wire transfer for the same amount through Arab Bank in Amman, Jordan, with the Islamic relief organization listed as the beneficiary.
IARA-USA later pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving Iraq. Federal prosecutors said the organization transferred approximately $1.375 million to Iraq through accounts in Jordan.
Elkomy has denied wrongdoing.
Speaking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2004, she said her work involved helping orphans and children who had lost at least one parent. She expressed concern that children receiving assistance through the organization would lose that support following the government’s action against the charity.
There is no indication in the documents cited by the reports that El-Sayed himself participated in the charity’s activities.
El-Sayed has previously discussed his family circumstances publicly. In a 2017 speech, he said his father and biological mother divorced after moving to the United States in the early 1980s. He said Elkomy later remarried a man who worked as a translator in the Middle East and subsequently returned to the region.
The disclosure comes as El-Sayed campaigns for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan and faces increased scrutiny of people connected to his family and campaign.
Recent reporting has also focused on his father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, who has contributed to El-Sayed’s campaign and has been associated with the Islamic Society of North America. Conservative media reports have alleged connections between that organization and the Muslim Brotherhood.
El-Sayed’s campaign has also received support from political commentator and streamer Hasan Piker, another figure who has generated controversy over past political statements.
None of those associations, however, establishes wrongdoing by El-Sayed.
The newly surfaced records concerning his mother primarily provide additional information about her employment with IARA-USA before and during the period in which federal investigators were examining the organization’s finances.
The Treasury Department’s 2004 designation and subsequent criminal case against IARA-USA documented serious allegations and violations involving the charity and its international network, including financial transactions involving sanctioned entities and countries.
Elkomy has maintained that her own role at the organization was humanitarian.
