What Is This World Coming To?

Ali Al-Kurd, son of a wealthy businessman, began paying between 21 and 26 percent annual interest rates, in regular monthly payments, on investment sums that reached as high as $1.2 million. He held lavish meetings with potential investors, spoke vaguely of various opportunities in Israel and elsewhere, but “when you left the meeting with him, even though at first you thought you knew what he was saying, at the end you realized that you really have no idea what he planned to do with your money,” one broken investor said.

Lending money to receive interest is a grave sin, according to both Judaism and Islam. Among the investors who fell victim to the Arab eastern Jerusalem Ponzi scheme – violating religious law in the process – were leading Islamic figures in eastern Jerusalem, Hamas members, former Orient House officials, Fatah leaders, and top personnel in the Islamic organizations on the Temple Mount.

Nearly 500 people are said to have lost money with Al-Kurd.  It is assumed that some 50 people lost between $400,000 and $1.2 million each, another 200 lost between $50,000 and $300,000, while many others lost smaller sums. It is assumed that many others who lost money do not want to come forward, as they do not want their interest-bearing activities to become known.

Al-Kurd, on the other hand, is in hiding, in fear for his life, according to reports.