Two Mich. Charities Raided; One Suspected of Terrorist Ties

Federal authorities yesterday raided the offices of two charities in Dearborn, Mich., including one suspected of directing money to support Hezbollah, reports The Detroit News.

The Treasury Department declared that the Goodwill Charitable Organization — no connection, the newspaper reports, to the national Goodwill charity — was one branch of the Iranian Martyrs Foundation, a group suspected of supporting Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad.

The other charity, Al-Mabarrat, was not shut down nor is it suspected of acting as a front for Hezbollah.

The son of the Goodwill Charitable Organization’s president, Mike Safiedine, told the newspaper that his father “is a good man; he supports the orphans.”

Goodwill Industries International announced in a press release that it would help with the investigation into the organization it said was “wrongfully” using the Goodwill name.