Xentury City Denies Allegations of bin Laden Ties

The controversy has raised questions about the innuendoes in metro Orlando's commercial real estate and construction industries. Osceola County Attorney Jo Thacker is investigating the information from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 362 and is scheduled to make a public report of her findings Nov. 11.

In a prepared statement, Susan Lawrence, Xentury City's vice president of marketing, denies the union's allegations. "Neither the Xentury City project nor any of its owners or related companies have any connection whatsoever to terrorism, in any form," the statement says. "In particular, they have no connection to the Sept. 11 tragedy, as has been alleged by activists representing the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union."

The statement claims, "What this really is about is the Union and our project's unwillingness to bow to threats made by the Union by signing the Union's one-sided labor agreement."

Lawrence's statement calls the Union's alleged financial background information on Xenel International, based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, "character assassination, guilt by association, innuendo and baseless allegations."

The statement says, "This is about McCarthyism at its worst. The tactics employed by the Union are offensive to us and to the concept of justice guaranteed by our Constitution."

The union, through its president, Morty Miller, says the report was prepared from public information and published articles and documents. Miller couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline but Union members tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the information was sent to Osceola County commissioners for their review.

The union itself is not accusing Xentury City Development Co. or its parent of doing business with bin Laden or his associates, Union members tell GlobeSt.com.

However, the Union's report paints a different perception. The report says the CEO of Xenel International, a billion-dollar, multinational corporation dealing in real estate, oil and gas, is Abdullah Ahmed Zainal Alireza. The report says Alireza is one of nine supervisors at Dar Al-Maal Al-Islami Trust, or DMI.

The report says Faisal Bank Sudan is among co-founders of a third bank, Al Shamal Islamic Bank. Attributing information from U.S. State Department records, the Union report alleges bin Laden is also a co-founder of Al Shamal Islamic Bank which purportedly funds Al Quaeda operations.

The Xentury City statement says the company has provided the Osceola County Attorney with "letters of support from the current and previous four American ambassadors to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as from other prominent, knowledgeable and patriotic Americans, vouching for the impeccable integrity, character and pro-American sentiment of the project's owners."

The developer's statement says its information, like the Union's information "is a matter of public record."