Dr. Mohammed El-Sayed, a professor of engineering at Eastern Michigan University and the father of Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, serves as a board member of the charity Life for Relief and Development, a group once raided by the FBI and accused by federal authorities of funneling money to Saddam Hussein-era Iraq. Federal tax forms show he has been affiliated with the organization since at least 2020.
The charity’s own board page lists Dr. Mohammed El-Sayed, P.E., among its directors, describing him in the same terms as his university title, according to Life for Relief and Development. The connection was reported by the Washington Free Beacon, which detailed how Abdul El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Jukaku Tayeb, previously served on the same charity’s board, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The charity’s legal troubles date back more than two decades. Between September 9, 2002, and March 19, 2003, the outlet reports, Life for Relief and Development transferred funds from the United States to Iraq through Amman, Jordan — transfers that later became the subject of a federal sanctions settlement. The U.S. government accused the charity of conspiring to funnel funds from America through Jordan into Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and said the charity’s president knew of the conduct behind the apparent violations and directed the transfers, the government noted.
Baghdad Raid and a Grand Jury Indictment
In June 2004, U.S.-led coalition troops raided the charity’s Baghdad office, confiscating 12 computers and 20 boxes of files, according to the Investigative Project on Terrorism. In 2007, a year after a separate 2006 FBI raid, the charity’s then-CEO was charged by a grand jury with violating sanctions and money-laundering laws, the Free Beacon reports.
That criminal case was ultimately dropped in 2014, at which point the charity reached a $780,000 settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the same Free Beacon reporting notes. The organization has also faced other allegations tying it to terrorism-related financing, though the underlying claims and their outcomes vary by source.
A Former Official’s Guilty Plea
Separately, Muthanna al-Hanooti, a former Life for Relief and Development official, was indicted on charges of working for the government of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, according to Reuters. Iraq’s foreign intelligence service allegedly funneled $34,000 through the charity to cover expenses for a congressional delegation that traveled to Baghdad in October 2002, the wire service reported. The Justice Department said at the time that the lawmakers on that trip were unaware of the financial connection, stating plainly, “They are not accused of anything.”
Muthanna al-Hanooti later pleaded guilty and was sentenced. The Free Beacon’s reporting separately notes that another organization, the Islamic African Relief Agency, was later shut down after being identified as an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization — a separate charity referenced in the same reporting on groups with alleged extremist financing ties.
No Response From the Campaign or the Charity
Life for Relief and Development and Mohammed El-Sayed did not respond to requests for comment, and Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign provided no on-the-record response, according to the Free Beacon’s reporting. The outlet’s account remains the primary source connecting the elder El-Sayed’s board role to the charity’s history of federal scrutiny, and no additional comment from the family or the organization has surfaced in the available record.
