ANTI-ISLAM Filmmaker Went by ‘P.J. Tobacco’ and 13 OTHER NAMES [View all]

[Segami]

He went by many names, the man who helped produce “The Innocence of Muslims,” the inflammatory video now roiling the Middle East: Matthew Nekola; Ahmed Hamdy; Amal Nada; Daniel K. Caresman; Kritbag Difrat; Sobhi Bushra; Robert Bacily; Nicola Bacily; Thomas J. Tanas; Erwin Salameh; Mark Basseley Youssef; Yousseff M. Basseley; Malid Ahlawi; even P.J. Tobacco. But his real name — the one he used when he was sent to prison for bank fraud — was Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. His habit of adopting other identities earned him a 21-month sentence in federal prison. During 2008 and 2009, court documents reviewed by Danger Room (.pdf) and embedded below show that Nakoula again and again opened bank accounts with fake names and stolen social security numbers. Then Nakoula would deposit bogus checks into the new accounts and withdraw money before the checks bounced. The scheme worked for more than a year, until he was indicted in June of 2009. Eventually, he was ordered to stay off of the internet unless he got his probation officer’s permission, and pay a $794,700 fine.




- In the summer of 2011, Nakoula started casting actors for “Innocence,” then titled “Desert Warriors,” a film ostensibly about life in ancient Egypt. In reality, it was a bloody anti-Muslim propaganda movie. The pseudonyms from Nakoula also kept coming. L.A.-based actress Cindy Garcia, who played a role as the mother in the video, listed a “Sam Bassiel” as the film’s producer on her resume. Crew member Jimmy Israel was given the name “Abnob Nakoula Basseley” for registration with the Screen Actors Guild. A company behind the casting, called Pharaoh Voice, Inc., listed a “Youssef M. Basseley” as its president. Another name, “Alan Roberts,” was listed as director in the casting call.




Nakoula told the Associated Press he managed a company that produced the video, but has since denied any involvement in the film. “I’m a gas station worker, I didn’t work on it, I know nothing about it. They need to blame someone,” Nakoula later told the Telegraph during an interview outside his Los Angeles home. But on Thursday, federal law enforcement officials said that Nakoula was in fact Bacile. Reporters also noted a resemblance between Nakoula’s front door and a chandelier inside his home to a door and chandelier seen in the film. Filming also reportedly took place at the Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita, California. Christian non-profit group Media For Christ — based in the L.A. suburb of Duarte — helped produce the film, according to Duarte’s city manager.




Adding onto the false identities, a man named “Sam Bacile” reportedly told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that he is a 52-year-old Israeli-born real-estate developer who raised $5 million from Jewish donors to make the movie. These claims are totally bogus. Israel officials found no evidence of an Israeli Sam Bacile. Nor is there anyone with the name holding a real estate license in California. The multi-million dollar financing claim has also stretched credulity owing to the film’s disastrously cheap, sub-pornographic production values. “All these Middle Eastern folks I work with have pseudonyms. I doubt he’s Jewish. I would suspect this is a disinformation campaign,” Steve Klein, a 61-year-old Christian activist who also worked as a consultant for the movie, told The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg. Klein said about 15 people were involved in making the film, all American citizens, but coming from countries including Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt and Turkey, and “the vast majority are Evangelical,” Klein said.


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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/09/anti-islam-flick/#more-91374




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