‘EPIC City’: Rep. Keith Self urges federal probes into Muslim development after watchdog report
By Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal
Questions raised about violations of ‘federal tax law, civil rights law, securities law, and housing law’
Rep. Keith Self called for additional federal probes after a watchdog group raised legal and constitutional concerns about a proposed Muslim-centered development in his district.
The Oversight Project, a watchdog group, alleges in a new report Thursday that the East Plano Islamic Center, or EPIC, is violating federal law in spearheading the development of “EPIC City,” a planned 400-acre community outside Dallas, Texas. The development near Josephine, Texas—also referred to as “The Meadow”—would include housing, a mosque, schools, and commercial businesses.
“The Oversight Project’s bombshell report indicates that the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) is violating federal tax law, civil rights law, securities law, and housing law. If true, EPIC should have their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status revoked,” Self, a Texas Republican, said.
The Justice Department dropped an earlier fair housing investigation into the community, and EPIC has repeatedly said it is in full compliance with the law. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a separate probe into possible housing discrimination.
“In addition to the ongoing Housing and Urban Development (HUD) investigation, I am calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch additional probes into EPIC and its affiliates for violating federal law. The rule of law must be upheld,” Self said.
But the Oversight Project report notes that the community “sold out within days of its original announcement in 2024.”
The Oversight Project asserts its findings raise issues regarding EPIC’s tax-exempt status since a nonprofit created a for-profit entity known as Community Capital Partners, which functions as the project’s developer.
“This explicit financial arrangement—where a nonprofit mosque (i.e., EPIC) has created a for-profit entity (i.e., ERP and/or CCP) that exists solely to funnel all of its profits back to the nonprofit mosque—raises serious constitutional, tax, and practical concerns, especially given that it is geared toward the development of a Sharia-compliant community in EPIC City,” the report says.
“The Oversight Project’s legal analysis of this arrangement, consisting of a straightforward application of the relevant bodies of law to our examination of public records returns, finds that EPIC is likely in violation of its 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status,” the report continues.
Community Capital Partners sold investment shares that were typically priced at $80,000 to individuals seeking to build homes in the community, according to the report.
“The Oversight Project posed as a potential investor interested in purchasing a share of property in EPIC City,” the report says. “Marketing materials received through that outreach show EPIC City and CCP sold nearly 500 lots in EPIC City, generating approximately $40 million in capital. Other records show that during the relevant time period, EPIC exclusively marketed the development to Muslims. Thus, it is highly plausible that EPIC raised $40 million in capital by selling plots of land exclusively to Muslims.”