Feds probe $100M anti-Israel ‘war chest’ tied to glamorous Mamdani ally: sources
The feds are probing a shadowy nonprofit’s $100 million anti-Israel “war chest” allegedly amassed by a glamorous ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a racecar-driving billionaire and a Texas private equity mogul, The Post has learned.
The Department of Homeland Security is investigating a UK-based outfit known only as PFF, scrutinizing whether it illegally funneled donor funds to Al-Haq, a Palestinian group sanctioned by the US in September, sources said.
Two sources with direct knowledge said federal agents are investigating more broadly whether the fund’s organizers employ opaque UK corporate entities to obscure cross-border financial flows.
One insider said the “linchpin” for the group’s fundraising is Bassema Yousef, a New York-born Democratic donor who now lives in the swanky London neighborhood of Kensington.
The Mamdani ally is a former Al Jazeera staffer and Booz Allen Hamilton consultant who has regularly forked out to the campaigns of Israel-bashing Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich).
Insiders described Yousef as “a well-connected operative who bridges the gap between State Department veterans, management consultants, and elite progressive spheres.”
They added she is a close friend of Mamdani spin doctor Waleed Shahid and Zara Rahim, a senior advisor to the left-winger’s winning campaign in November.
Yousef’s Threads account features a string of unhinged anti-Israel tirades in which she unloads on CBS correspondent Matt Gutman, who is Jewish, because his network “is owned and run by Zionist (sic)”.
“No-one cares,” she ranted in response to Gutman’s short video from March showing air-raid sirens blaring in Tel Aviv. “Israel is too busy committing war crimes with US tax dollars,” adding that the Israeli city is “stolen Palestinian land.”
Yousef allegedly established PFF with the backing of Palestinian-Australian motorsports magnate Yasser Shahin and the Austin, Texas-based buyout executive Basil Qunibi.
Shahin – a 49-year-old racing driver who has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans – is a director of the multibillion-dollar Peregrine Corporation. He owns a stake in the Australian retail giant he inherited from his late father Fred, filings show.
UK corporate filings also confirm Adelaide-born Shahin’s role in establishing PFF’s London entities. PFF also has a nonprofit based in Delaware, according to the IRS website.
Qunibi, meanwhile, serves as the chief executive of Atom Investors and sits on the board of the World Food Program USA. He previously founded Novus Partners, a pioneering portfolio intelligence platform used by top institutional investors. There is no suggestion from DHS sources that Atom is involved with PFF.
A spokesperson at Prosek Partners, handling queries on behalf of Qunibi, broadly denied the allegations but refused multiple requests by The Post to provide an on-the-record statement regarding his reported role in establishing PFF.
Shahin and Yousef did not return the Post’s request for comment. City Hall also did not return a request for comment. The mayor is not under scrutiny.
“A new fund set up by Arabs across the US, UK, and Australia has been built to take on Israel,” one of the sources familiar with the operation claimed.
“This new organization operates in the shadows, and their actions should be brought into the public sphere,” the person briefed on the matter added.
PFF also maintains ties to Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK. While diplomatic rules prevent him from formally joining the board, sources allege he helped assemble the fund’s key players.
Zomlot pointedly declined to dispute the names behind the fund when confronted by The Post in a brief telephone interview on Friday.
“I cannot answer any of these questions. Please reach out to my office,” he said before hanging up.
The diplomat did not respond to any follow-up messages about the DHS probe and the allegations that its funds may have reached a sanctioned Palestinian group.
PFF’s website claims the fund is “a global foundation designed to pursue justice, equality, and freedom for all people, by building a virtuous cycle of capital, impact, resilience, and legitimacy.”
However, sources with direct knowledge of its inner workings claim that the executives try to influence global politics by secretly financing anti-Israel messaging and bankrolling legal fights to defend pro-Palestinian activists.
According to the Congressional Research Service and the agency’s public mandate, the DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations unit can step in when illicit capital crosses borders, including transfers of American wealth through British corporate entities.
“HSI does not comment on the existence or status of specific investigations, nor on investigative methods, intelligence sources, or potential enforcement actions,” a DHS spokesperson told The Post when asked about the reported inquiry.
HSI investigators specifically target networks that exploit legitimate financial systems to hide illegal transfers. Agents routinely target bulk cash smuggling, trade-based money laundering, and the financing of sanctioned organizations.
The reported scrutiny, if active, does not indicate criminal wrongdoing, and none of the parties alleged to be involved have been charged with a crime.
