Follow the Money II: Could Mayor Bloomberg's Media Business Interests in the Middle East Have Anything to Do with His Support of the Ground Zero Mosque?

Michael Bloomberg has had a busy summer.

The NYC Mayor has been waging a pitched battle against the 71% of New Yorkers who want the Cordoba House mosque moved from its present site. That event has gotten plenty of media coverage.

But that fight may be nothing more than a part of a second, larger contest between Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg LP — a private company of which Mayor Bloomberg controls 85% — over control of financial news reporting in the world of Islamic finance.

The stakes in the Bloomberg-Reuters Middle East Islamic Finance war: The nearly 300 Islamic banks and financial institutions worldwide whose assets are predicted to grow to $1 trillion by 2013.

“We have an aspiration at Bloomberg to become the most influential news organisation in the world.”

Peter T. Grauer, Chairman and CEO of Bloomberg, July 31, 2010

“…. the growth of Islamic finance has been phenomenal in spite of the current difficulties that seem to be indicative of the situation visa vi the international economic community, the financial world seems to be turning its attention to Islamic finance.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Musa Hitam, Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation, CNBC interview, August 18, 2010

Two companies in the financial world turned their attention to Islamic finance and its phenomenal growth, Thomson Reuters (Reuters) and Bloomberg L.P. Simply put: if it ends up as Bloomberg’s market, Bloomberg’s financial news terminals — which are Bloomberg LP’s core profit center — will be the standard; if Reuters’ market, Reuters’ financial news portals will be used instead.

Earlier we reported that we were cynical about Mayor Bloomberg’s motives for passionately defending the building of a controversial mosque near Ground Zero. Of particular concern: Bloomberg’s financial interests in the Middle East with Bloomberg L.P. establishing a financial information hub in Dubai at the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC). The five-year Bloomberg plan: to ‘double revenues by 2014″ in the Middle East.

We’ve since learned we’d only skimmed the surface.

A timeline of events over the last 26 months details the series of Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters moves and counter-moves that have been made in an attempt to gain the upper hand in the reporting of Islamic finance. The pace has only accelerated since the 2008 crash. With slow or no growth in Europe, the Americas and Japan, the Islamic financial world is being seen as the best bet for future profits by both combatants.

This little matter may help explain the Mayor’s recent statement about the necessity of building the Park51 mosque to “send a signal around the world.” Was the Mayor thinking of sending a signal to the entire world–or just a particular part of it?

Even more intriguing, Mayor Bloomberg’s reply to the question of whether the developer and the funds for the mosque should be investigated. On July 14, the New York Post reported:

Bloomberg was asked Monday about GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio’s demands last week that Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo investigate the mosque being developed near the Sept. 11 attack site.

The mayor has defended the mosque plans before. On Monday, he said investigating or vetting religious organizations goes against what the nation stands for.

The mayor may think it is un-American to investigate the developers, but the media in New York City–especially the Post–has been admirable in picking up the slack. This week, the Post reported: “Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the mosque and community center near Ground Zero, owes $224,270.77 in back property tax on the site, city records show.”

Court records from several states other than New York indicate that Sharif El-Gamal has had more than his share of run-ins with the law over other legal issues.

Court records from Florida to New York state reveal that Sharif and his younger brother, Samir “Sammy” El-Gamal, 35, a partner with him in his company SoHo Properties, both have a history replete with intersections with tax and debt issues, dating back to at least 1994 and continuing into this year. In one case, a NYPD officer arrested Sharif in 1994 for “promoting prostitution.” (He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of disorderly conduct.) In another instance, Sharif told a court he didn’t hit a tenant from whom his brother and he were trying to collect back rent. He said to police, the tenant’s “face could have run into my hand.”

As the debate has gotten more heated, Hizzoner’s rhetoric has gotten more bizarre — and hard to explain. Consider the following video which provides some background against which to judge a lot of Bloomberg’s otherwise-inexplicable statements.

This video may also help explain that while the Mayor chooses to thumb his nose at a majority of his constituents over the mosque in New York City — the consequences of which will affect another, different battle half a world away.