US Magistrate Judge David Schultz ruled Monday that CAIR’s donors, funding sources — potentially including foreign ones — and any assets owned by the group are all within the “scope of permissible discovery” as part of former chapter leader Lori Saroya’s lawsuit against the controversial Muslim rights group.
Saroya filed a federal defamation complaint against CAIR in January after the group dropped its own lawsuit against the former employee, which accused her of embarking on a “defamation campaign” against the organization, including by implying that CAIR is funded by foreign governments and terrorist organizations.
Lori Saroya
CAIR alleged that Saroya’s statements — posted on social media, in comment sections and emailed to the group’s supporters — damaged the organization’s ability to fundraise and build partnerships, but it ultimately dropped the lawsuit in January 2022 over fears that Saroya’s legal team would “demand the names of CAIR supporters who have donated to us.”
Saroya’s lawyer, Jeffrey Robbins, described Monday’s ruling as “the mother of all legal boomerangs.”
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Robbins explained that the order will force CAIR to “turn over evidence about everything from fundraising practices, such as having raised money from foreign sources and concealed it; whether it deceived donors; whether it mismanaged donor money; whether it retaliated against employees or threatened to retaliate against employees for raising concerns about sexual harassment or the like.”
The judge noted that “the thrust of CAIR’s allegations against Saroya in the 2021 complaint is that Saroya falsely implied CAIR received funding from foreign governments and terrorists when she stated CAIR accepted ‘international funding through their Washington Trust Foundation.’”
Schultz stated that “CAIR points to no public admission that it received funding from terrorists or that it received funding through the Washington Trust Foundation” but “discovery into these matters is proportionate to the needs of the case.”
“CAIR has not shown that the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit, or that it unwarrantedly taxes its resources,” he ruled.
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As a tax-exempt 501(3) nonprofit organization, CAIR is not typically required to reveal information about the identity of its donors.
More recently, the White House cut ties with CAIR last year after the group’s co-founder, Nihad Awad, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on Oct 7.
Robbins told The Post that he didn’t want to speculate about what discovery disclosures would reveal about CAIR’s funding sources but he said he expects the Minnesota federal court to issue a deadline for the group to fork over the names of its secret donors soon.
“We served requests that CAIR produce the documents that would show that what Ms. Saroya had said was true, and CAIR took the position that it should not have to turn over those documents,” he said.
“So the ruling is almost across the board that CAIR does indeed have to turn over this evidence.”
As an Aussie, I especially appreciate the sound of “the mother of all legal boomerangs.”
Besides, my money is on CAIR’s money being dirty. And by dirty, I mean Muslim Brotherhood involvement.
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A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
