SIGH... I used to love the food from LaShish. Great food but as it turned out obviously evil people. We used to order it for lunch when I worked in Dearborn. How upset I was to learn the terrorist ties when the news broke. And the revelations continue:

Sister-in-law of LaShish founder faces immigration fraud charges

Paul Egan / The Detroit News


DETROIT -- Federal authorities today charged the sister-in-law of LaShish Restaurants founder Talal Chahine with citizenship fraud, alleging her family paid a man to marry her but their closest contact was a kiss at the wedding.

Rula Nadim Al-Aouar, 36, of Dearborn Heights, is the sister of Elfat El-Aouar, who in May was sentenced to 18 months in prison for helping her husband, Chahine, evade taxes by skimming millions of dollars in undeclared income from restaurant receipts.

Chahine is a fugitive, believed to be living in Lebanon.

Rula Al-Aouar, a Lebanon-born physician who is a former LaShish waitress, fraudulently obtained her U.S. citizenship in 2000, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Al-Aouar did not enter a plea at her arraignment, where she was represented by Detroit lawyer Robert M. Morgan. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer ordered Al-Aouar to surrender all passports and return to federal court for a preliminary examination on Sept. 25.

Morgan could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last month, Timojin Steven Pruett admitted he "agreed to marry Al-Aouar, who was a stranger to him, in exchange for cash so that Al-Aouar could stay in the United States and become a U.S. citizen," the complaint said.

Officials said Pruett, who at the time worked as a dishwasher, was paid less than $1,000.

Pruett never lived with Al-Aouar after the 1992 wedding and "the only physical contact Pruett ever had with Al-Aouar was a kiss at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony," the complaint said.

Pruett did not immediately return a message left on his telephone answering machine.

On the wedding documents, Pruett used the name and birth date of his brother, Steven Timothy Pruett, without his brother's knowledge, the complaint alleges.

About a year later, Al-Aouar told immigration officials the marriage was not working out and she was directed to leave the country by Nov. 26, 1993, the complaint alleges.

Al-Aouar then requested asylum, claming she feared persecution by Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, if she returned to Lebanon. She was later granted citizenship.

Al-Aouar, who has a home in Dearborn Heights, was arrested this morning at Chahine's home in Plymouth, where she was living, officials said.

You can reach Paul Egan at (313) 222-2069 or pegan@detnews.com.

http://detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 1003/METRO

They need to prosecute this Pruett guy too! How cheaply he holds the value of citizenship in this country! Citizenship is not something to be bought, it is to be earned!