A wealthy Long Island town that previously fabricated a “fake grandma” to block a mosque’s expansion is once again facing legal trouble — this time for walking away from a $4 million settlement agreement it had already signed.
The Town of Oyster Bay had agreed to a settlement with Muslims of Long Island (MOLI), which would have ended a federal lawsuit, allowed the Masjid Al-Baqi mosque in Bethpage to move forward with planned renovations, and covered nearly $4 million in legal fees. As part of the deal, the town pledged to hold a board meeting within 10 days to formally approve the agreement.
But that meeting never happened. Instead, officials abruptly scrapped the vote on Thursday night — effectively breaking the deal.
“Unfortunately, the settlement has fallen apart as the Town repudiated its own agreement,” said a spokesperson for Linklaters, the law firm representing the mosque. The firm alleges that town officials caved to local opposition, pointing to a “Stop the Mosque” petition that garnered nearly 2,000 signatures and, according to court documents, contained racist and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“We believed the Town when it signed the settlement, and we are devastated that the Town leaders gave in to hate instead of honoring their word,” said Imran Makda, a worshipper at the mosque and one of the plaintiffs. “All we want is the chance to worship in peace, like every other faith community in this country.”
Town officials deny that anti-Muslim sentiment influenced their reversal. Instead, they say the decision was based on legal advice.
“Upon further analysis and legal guidance, the Town Board has chosen to defend its zoning authority and withdraw from the proposed settlement agreement,” said Town Attorney Frank Scalera.
Just weeks earlier, however, Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino had described the deal as a way to “resolve outstanding planning concerns and move forward in good faith as one community.”
Now, town officials are once again arguing that the mosque poses a traffic hazard — citing over 4,700 red-light violations and a “high accident rate” at a nearby intersection. But in court, they struggled to connect any of those issues directly to the mosque. In fact, the only traffic incident ever linked to the site involved a town public safety inspector who rear-ended a car during an official visit.
Even more troubling, the town previously admitted under oath to submitting fabricated evidence — including testimony from a so-called grandmother who complained she couldn’t pick up her grandkids due to mosque-related traffic. That “grandma,” her SUV, and the children all turned out to be fictional.
Initially, town officials said the testimony was merely “an amalgam” of other complaints. But when questioned by reporters, they denied fabricating the account — despite having acknowledged it in sworn legal filings.
With the town now backing out of the settlement, taxpayers could face a far steeper financial burden.
“By walking away from a signed settlement, Town officials have all but guaranteed that their insurers will deny coverage,” said Muhammad Faridi, an attorney for MOLI. “That means it won’t be the insurers paying for this discrimination — it will be the taxpayers of Oyster Bay, who now stand to pay millions more so that elected officials can protect their own political futures.”
Attorneys for the mosque have asked a federal judge to move forward with the original October 27 trial date, calling it “the only path forward.”
“The Town signed an agreement that was filed in federal court,” said Faridi. “The law does not permit elected officials to cave to prejudice, and neither will this Court — the trial will go forward.”