EXCLUSIVE: Zohran Mamdani Accused of Pocketing Donations for Food Distribution Program
From missing charity money to illegal campaign donations, and much more, shady shenanigans seem to follow wherever Mamdani goes.
A leaked email chain has raised accusations that Democrats’ NYC mayoral lead, Zohran Mamdani, may have pocketed $12,000 in donations meant for a Muslim community food distribution effort. Early voting has already started, the official election date is November 4th, and so far, local media have ignored the controversy.
According to evidence provided to The Dana Show, back in 2020, during the COVID lockdowns in New York, Mamdani seems to have at the very least misled a couple of big donors about where their money would actually go.
At the time, Zohran Mamdani was running for NY assemblyman, with his headquarters in an office in Astoria, New York. During the pandemic, he offered his storefront office to local groups, such as the Astoria Food Pantry and the Astoria Mutual Aid Society. He even organized a phone bank campaign with the Action Network to ensure everyone knew he was “partnered with” these groups.
When Ramadan came around in May 2020, Mamdani, who has made food a huge part of his campaign, partnered with Aafia Chadhury from LIC Support to run his own meals campaign, Ramadan Iftar Meals for Astoria/LIC COVID19 Relief. While fundraising for his campaign, he would hype all the other groups in the area.
At some point during Ramadan, Mamdani met Gustavo Guerra, a music producer looking to help out local charities. Guerra and his friend Mike Dean had sold T-shirts during COVID and decided to use the profits to help various causes. Guerra says that Mamdani introduced him to the Astoria Welfare Society, run by Mohammed Jabed Uddin.
Guerra and Dean agreed to donate $12,500, with the intention that at least half of it go to the Astoria Welfare Society. Guerra even did an interview with NY1’s Roger Clark, hyping the Astoria Welfare Society. The other half was meant for Mamdani’s meal program.
In a leaked email chain, Mamdani first suggested depositing the money into Chadhury’s personal bank account. However, when Dean asked about a 501(c)(3) designation for tax purposes, Mamdani suggested sending the money to a third-party organization, Muslims Giving Back, that Chadhury worked with. MGB was running a similar Ramadan meals program in Midtown, and they agreed to accept the funds on Mamdani’s behalf. What happened to the money after that is unknown. According to our source, the Astoria Welfare Society eventually received about $500 out of the $12,500, when they were supposed to get over $6000.
Interestingly, Mamdani was quoted in a GrubStreet August 2020 story saying his campaign raised $65,000 for his Ramadan Iftar Meals project, yet his LaunchGood Campaign only raised a little over $53,000. That’s a difference of $12,000. So does that mean that Mamdani kept almost $5,500 that was meant to go to the Astoria Welfare Society? Seems pretty shady.
In a vacuum, the 2020 incident might seem like a misunderstanding. However, this new evidence comes to light following a disturbing pattern of seemingly shady behavior. Most recently, Mamdani has been all over the media, promising rent freezes and city-owned grocery stores, crying about Islamophobia, and claiming his aunt was the real victim of 9/11. But after photos of his only living aunt not wearing a hijab surfaced, he was forced to clarify that he really meant his father’s cousin.
A few weeks ago, he was spotted arm-in-arm with an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Imam Siraj Wahhaj. It’s bad enough they were photographed together, but it would look really bad if the Imam donated directly to Mamdani. So, instead, Wahhaj funneled money into Mamdani’s campaign through CAIR’s PAC, Unity and Justice Fund. That seems a bit shady.
While he did condemn Hasan Piker’s “America deserved 9/11” statement when pushed during the NYC Mayoral debate, Mamdani has refused to denounce the phrases “globalize the intifada” or “from the river to the sea,” both of which call for the death of Jews in Israel and worldwide. Instead, he tried to dodge the issue by claiming that the phrases are simply a wish for a free Palestine. That feels shady.
In yet another stunt, Zorhan’s campaign stole the NY Knicks logo and replaced the team’s name with his own. He then aired campaign ads using the logo during the Knicks’ season opener, making it appear that the team endorsed him. That’s very shady. The team had to send a cease-and-desist, and Mamdani’s campaign has since removed the ads from the internet.
“The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights.”
The NY Post busted the Mamdani campaign for illegally accepting donations from foreigners totaling almost $13,000. As of their Oct 12th report, about $5k had been returned, but the bulk of the funds remained in Mamdani’s accounts. That seems shady.
But it’s not just the foreign cash that is an issue. Mamdani’s campaign is surrounded by PACs with money from shady sources. Of course, George Soros is involved. Then there’s Neville Singham. Neville and his relatives have also funneled thousands of dollars into PACs or the campaign. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he is the husband of Code Pink’s Jodie Evans, and together they’ve been funding all the socialist groups running the ICE protests across the country from their home in communist China.
Don’t forget the terrorism connections. CAIR has been well known for its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist organizations. Their PAC, Unity and Justice Fund, sent over the Imam’s contribution and more, totaling $100,000.
According to a NY Post story, “five staffers of the Islamic Circle of North America gave $1,300 in individual contributions to Mamdani’s campaign. The ICNA is the North American branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, a South Asian Islamist group tied to the Muslim Brotherhood and banned in India and Russia as a terrorist organization.”
Asra Normani has an entire X thread uncovering Mamdani’s links to Linda Sarsour and her friends. Linda has a long history of palling around with Louis Farrakhan and calling for jihad against Trump. According to Asra’s research, Linda shepherded the young Mamdani onto the path, and there are 110 organizations connected to Mamdani with ties to socialism, terrorism, and the DNC.
Then there is the We The People, America For All PAC that has been splashing out tens of thousands of dollars on billboards around NYC. They have ties to a Syrian terror group, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, that took part in the October 7th attack on Israel. All of that is more than just a little shady.
Mamdani filed for public matching funds to help him with fundraising, and FEC filings show he has received over $12 million. That alone would be legally acceptable, but there is evidence that he “misstated” his personal wealth when he initially filed his request. His campaign has since corrected the discrepancies, but it still seems shady.
With all this shadiness surrounding him, it’s no wonder that 26% of NYC residents say they will flee the city at the first opportunity if he wins.
The Dana Show reached out to Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for comment, but has not received a response.
** If you’d like to help the Astoria Welfare Society, which has been struggling since 2020, donations can be sent to Uddin’s PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal account, other support options are available on their website.
Lorraine Yuriar is a wife, mother, and lifelong conservative currently stuck in a very blue state.
Excellent work, as usual...but...as someone sitting here in Virginia surrounded by people willing to vote for someone who fantasizes about actual murder, this Mamdani stunt won't change anything. I'm sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but there is no reasoning with these people. They have lost any sense of moral boundaries.
Great work. Lorraine. I just wish more would see this Information.