INTERNACIONAL
Alarming fraud trend puts small-town mosque with industry and foreign govt ties in focus: ‘Our motherland now’
This article is Part 2 of a Digital exclusive series investigating trucking fraud, public safety, and assimilation concerns in southwest Ohio. You can read Part 1 here.
MAINEVILLE, OHIO — A mosque rising amid rural homes and farmland in southwest Ohio has become a focal point in the community’s growing concerns over an influx of foreign-owned trucking companies and trucking fraud, with a Digital review revealing significant financial ties between the mosque, trucking companies and the government of Uzbekistan.
Roughly one mile north of the main intersection in Maineville, a small Warren County village with about 1,400 residents, sits the Islamic Center of Maineville, which has been under construction for the past four years following its approval by Hamilton Township in April 2022.
Digital found that the mosque received substantial donations from trucking companies that government records show were cited for serious safety and compliance violations, while the mosque’s own Telegram channel displayed associations with people identified as current or former Uzbek officials.
For years, the Islamic Center of Maineville has posted on Telegram to its 3,600 members, courting donations, acknowledging partnerships with trucking companies, and even sharing screenshots of donations from local trucking companies, owned by Uzbeks, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Buraq Limited, a Springboro trucking company associated with Rukhshona Sultonova, donated at least $28,000 to the Islamic Center across 28 gifts, according to Telegram screenshots reviewed by Digital.
A review of the company’s records found dozens of reported violations, including multiple English-proficiency violations, four ELD (electronic logging device) violations, three invalid-CDL violations, four expired medical cards and four hours-of-service violations.
Premier Trucking Group Inc., owned by Sam Avazov, has received over 100 total violations, including for unsafe driving and invalid CDLs. In September, the Islamic Center posted a screenshot of a $1,000 donation from Premier Trucking Group, which has donated at least $25,000 to the mosque.
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Foko Logistics LLC, owned by Abubakr Olimov and based in Hilliard, donated $20,000 in a single gift to the mosque, and had 52 violations across 37 inspections in FMCSA’s current 24-month record. The company had vehicle-maintenance violations involving damaged brake hoses, an inoperable tractor-protection valve and severely underinflated tires. Ten of its 24 vehicle inspections resulted in an out-of-service designation, a rate of 41.7%.
Maca Transportation and Services LLC, based in Dayton and owned by Muminkhuja Kholkhujaev, donated at least $7,000 across eight gifts. FMCSA’s records show 120 violations across 72 inspections, including an English-proficiency failure and multiple false or incomplete hours-of-service records. The company also had serious brake, tire, and other vehicle-maintenance violations, with 14 of 36 vehicle inspections resulting in an out-of-service designation, or 38.9%.
One trucking company that gave $150,000 to the mosque and helped organize the overall fundraising effort , Phoenix Cargo, told Digital the mosque approached the company multiple times asking for donations but said the $150,000 figure the company ultimately donated «represents only a fraction of the mosque’s total construction budget» and that «Phoenix Cargo is not even among the project’s top 100 donors.»
Phoenix Cargo has been cited hundreds of times for safety violations, including English proficiency, ELD tampering, and unsafe driving violations.
Digital reached out to the mosque for comment but did not receive a response. Earlier this month, the Islamic Center said it is «committed to operating responsibly and in accordance with applicable law.»
«The fundraising for the Islamic Center concerns me because a large percentage of the Uzbek truck companies that donate have been repeatedly cited for the same kinds of serious inspection violations,» Nodawolf, an online researcher who lives in the area and has been documenting alleged trucking fraud in southwest Ohio for months and was granted anonymity due to death threats he’s received, said. «Those violations suggest a pattern of non-compliance with our laws and regulations among the donors, which is troubling given the community’s concentration in the freight industry in Maineville.»
Digital also asked the mosque if an administrator for their Telegram channel with the name «Bek A» is Bekhzod Asrarov, an Uzbek truck driver living in Maineville who authorities say struck and killed 21-year-old Ohio soccer player Tobias «Toby» Forsythe earlier this year. Asrarov was unable to communicate effectively in English at the scene, according to authorities, and has been accused of removing and concealing his dashcam after the crash.
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The mosque did not provide a response.
The Islamic Center’s website says it does «not solicit donations from any foreign government, organization, association, partnership or individual or any agent thereof» and that «any such attempt» should be reported to the mosque immediately. However, the organization’s Telegram account suggests close ties with the government of Uzbekistan, specifically when it comes to trucking companies.
Hamkor Uz Cincinnati Association is a nonprofit organization established in 2020 to unite Uzbeks in the Cincinnati area and support community projects, including the construction of religious and cultural centers. Hamilton Township records identify Hamkor as the owner of the roughly 6.7-acre property where the Islamic Center of Maineville is being built.
Telegram screenshots reviewed by Digital show the organization’s ties to former Uzbek government officials. One image shows the Mason office of Erkinbay Abdulla, with an accompanying message describing him as a former Uzbek official who «creates the trucking companies.»
Another screenshot contains a community statement attributed to Sukhrob Norbekov, whom an accompanying message identifies as another former Uzbek official who represents the mosque. The material places officials linked to Uzbekistan alongside an organization involved in the mosque project and individuals involved in creating local trucking companies.
Current Uzbek officials also appear to be involved with the mosque and local trucking industry via the central Asian nation’s Ministry of Digital Technologies, according to photos posted on the mosque’s Telegram.
The screenshots show a list of a six-member Uzbek delegation that traveled to the United States in April 2025, including Ambassador Furqat Sidiqov, regional government officials, and three officials from the Ministry of Digital Technologies. Separate posts invite entrepreneurs and truck-company managers to an April 19 IT conference hosted by Hamkor Uz Cincinnati at a banquet hall in Loveland, Ohio.
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Additionally, a review of the Hamkor Uz Telegram channel, with current and former Uzbek government officials as administrators, showed advertisements for local trucking companies, removable truck signs, English courses for truck driving school, and legal counseling. Other posts include the owner of the mosque providing guidance on how to understand «Shariah compliant banking» and a post on «speaking English with the police» and how to «learn on the road.»
Nodawolf said the ties to the government of Uzbekistan are troubling to him «because these Uzbek trucking companies appear to be tightly organized, with patterns that look almost like a shared blueprint.»
«Given the documented safety and compliance problems in many of these companies, it’s reasonable to ask whether gaps in U.S. regulations are being systematically exploited,» he added.
Several locals who spoke to Digital said they have expressed their concerns about the rise in Uzbek trucking companies and potential safety gaps that could come along with it to their elected officials but have largely been ignored.
«They’re scared, I think they recognize that they could be called names, they can recognize they could be called out for, you know, like, Islamophobic or racist or things, but it’s not that at all,» a resident from nearby Middletown, Ohio, which has also experienced an influx of foreign-owned trucking companies, who posts information about trucking companies online under the name GHOSTOPSUZ, told Digital.
One lawmaker who has taken action against trucking fraud is Ohio Republican state Rep. Michelle Teska, who represents most of Warren County, including Maineville, and has introduced legislation to strengthen commercial-driver licensing requirements, including a measure requiring driver examinations to be administered in English, which she told Digital addresses the «low-hanging fruit of the problem.»
«I did some research and basically found out that you can get your driver’s license and your CDL license in the state of Ohio and you can have that test in 10 different languages,» Teska said. «So that, to me, common sense says that’s insanity.»
Teska says she has seen the problem «firsthand» while driving around her district, calling it «rampant.»
«This past weekend, I was at an event in Warren County and I was at an event that is right across the street from the BMV and I was just kind of observing a gentleman pulling in a semi truck cab into the parking lot on a Saturday at the BMV taking up four spaces, clearly had no idea how to drive the truck,» Teska explained. «So I walked over to the BMV and spoke to this person and kind of confronted him and said, hey, do you speak English? He replied, no, I don’t speak English. Asked him where he was from. He was from Uzbekistan. So it was crazy because I was watching it all take place live.»
Authorities in Warren County have been ramping up their presence in the trucking industry and on the roads in recent weeks, including a crackdown over the last week.
«The Hamilton Township Police Department actively monitors traffic safety concerns within our jurisdiction and works with our public safety partners to address violations and unsafe driving behaviors when identified,» a spokesperson for Hamilton Township said. «In fact, our officers recently participated in a targeted traffic enforcement initiative focused on commercial motor vehicles, working alongside partner agencies to identify safety violations and improve roadway safety. We will continue to enforce applicable laws and take appropriate action when circumstances warrant.»
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell stressed there is nothing inherently wrong with mosque fundraising and he has not received any information that any laws have been broken. He told Digital, however, that clearly «there’s something going on» within the Uzbek community in southwest Ohio that «warrants at least awareness on the part of law enforcement.»
«It’s disproportionate to what we see with any other immigrant community,» Fornshell said.
Since 2021, Fornshell said the area has seen an «influx of cases involving Uzbeks» that has prompted the need to hire more court interpreters and city employees who speak the language, particularly in the lower courts that deal with traffic offenses.
«I would say hardly a week goes by where we don’t have some felony case involving an Uzbek, it’s pretty frequent at this point,» Fornshell said.
Census data from 2024 shows that roughly 1,500 people born in Uzbekistan live in Greater Cincinnati, while about 3,800 Uzbekistan-born residents live across Ohio. Uzbek community leaders say the actual population is significantly higher, estimating that roughly 4,000 Uzbek families live in southern Ohio, including U.S.-born children.
«This is our motherland now, from now on,» Hamkor Uz board member Nodirjon Ernazarov told the Cincinnati Enquirer through a translator last week in a story highlighting the Uzbek population’s efforts to become part of the community. The article explains that the influx of Uzbeks was driven, in part, by the area’s proximity to the trucking industry.
«Uzbek people are very hardworking people,» Ernazarov added. «So this mosque is (being built) by the help of all Uzbeks.»
The article does not mention that Ernazarov also owns a trucking company, Ray Cargo Corp., which has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the mosque and has been cited for numerous safety violations, including unsafe driving and driver fitness.
Digital reached out to every trucking company mentioned in the article for comment.
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INTERNACIONAL
$800-a-day penalty threatens to bleed investigative reporter dry as explosive legal fight escalates
Former investigative reporter Catherine Herridge is asking the Supreme Court to protect her confidential sources after a federal court ordered her to identify who helped expose a woman’s alleged ties to China’s military.
The outcome of the case could dramatically reshape the legal protections afforded to journalists working in the U.S. under the First Amendment.
Herridge was held in contempt and ordered to pay $800 per day for refusing to reveal sources behind her 2017 reporting on Yanping Chen, a Chinese American businesswoman who operated a university attended by U.S. military personnel. Her reporting raised questions about Chen’s alleged past as a colonel for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China and the potential exposure of sensitive information about American service members.
The Department of War subsequently cut off military tuition assistance funding to Chen’s university following a national security review, according to a filing by Herridge’s legal team. The school had been receiving approximately $200,000 a month in taxpayer-funded tuition assistance.
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Now Chen, who was investigated by federal authorities but never charged with a crime, is pursuing a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging that officials improperly disclosed her private records to Herridge in violation of the Privacy Act. She has sought to compel Herridge to identify her sources as part of that litigation.
The dispute has reached the Supreme Court, where Herridge’s attorneys are asking the justices to reconsider the legal standard used to force journalists to disclose confidential sources in civil cases.
Her legal team argues that the lower courts failed to adequately weigh the broader circumstances of Chen’s lawsuit, including the Pentagon’s national security findings and whether Chen can ultimately prevail in her claims against the government.
The case also exposes a longstanding disagreement among federal appeals courts over the scope of the reporter’s privilege, an issue the Supreme Court has not comprehensively addressed in more than five decades.
Herridge’s original investigation, published while she was working at in 2017, examined Chen’s background and her operation of the University of Management and Technology in Arlington, Virginia, which enrolled U.S. military personnel using Defense Department tuition assistance.
The reporting included photographs appearing to show Chen in a Chinese military uniform and examined allegations that she had concealed her previous military service when applying for U.S. immigration benefits.
It also raised concerns about the university’s collection of information on American service members, including details about their military training and professional backgrounds. A whistleblower interviewed for the investigation alleged that information stored on the school’s computers could be accessed remotely from China.
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Federal authorities had previously investigated Chen over potential immigration violations and counterintelligence concerns, but prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia declined to bring charges.
Following Herridge’s reporting, the Pentagon completed a review of Chen’s university and terminated its eligibility for military tuition assistance funding, according to her filing.
Chen subsequently filed suit against the federal government, alleging that confidential information from government records had been improperly disclosed to Herridge. She contends that identifying the officials responsible for the alleged disclosures is necessary to establish her Privacy Act claims.
Herridge refused to identify her sources, arguing that compelling disclosure would undermine the ability of journalists to obtain sensitive information from government officials and whistleblowers.
A federal judge ultimately ordered Herridge to disclose the sources and held her in civil contempt when she refused. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the order, prompting her appeal to the Supreme Court.
Media has continued to support Herridge’s legal fight, including covering her legal fees, despite her departure from the network in 2019.
At the center of Herridge’s petition is a disagreement among federal appeals courts over how judges should evaluate a journalist’s claim of privilege when confidential sources are sought in civil litigation.
The filing argues that the D.C. Circuit applied a narrow test focused primarily on whether Chen needed the information to pursue her lawsuit and whether she had exhausted alternative means of obtaining it.
They contend that courts should also consider the strength of the underlying lawsuit and the consequences of compelling disclosure, particularly when confidential national security sources may be involved.
The distinction could prove significant for journalists reporting on sensitive government matters. Under the standard challenged by Herridge, a plaintiff could obtain a reporter’s confidential sources even if other deficiencies in the lawsuit would ultimately prevent the plaintiff from recovering damages, according to the petition.
supreme court, politics, law, judiciary, federal courts, fox news media, first amendment
INTERNACIONAL
El déficit fiscal, un Congreso adverso y las tensiones con Trump y Milei: los desafíos de Lula en su cuarto mandato
Gobernabilidad, gasto público, seguridad y relaciones con Estados Unidos se asoman como los grandes desafíos que deberá afrontar el reelecto presidente Luiz Lula da Silva en su cuarto mandato tras el triunfo en el balotaje de este domingo en Brasil.
Son temas prioritarios que el mandatario izquierdista, de 81 años, deberá enfrentar a partir del 5 de enero próximo.
“En general, lo más inmediato es la economía. Pero hay una serie de conexiones con otras cuestiones importantes de la agenda política interna”, dijo a TN la analista brasilela Denilde Holzhacker, directora del área de Investigaciones en la Escuela Superior de Publicidad y Marketing de San Pablo.
Cuáles son los temas prioritarios de la agenda
La agenda de prioridades del nuevo gobierno de Lula es extensa, pero los temas más candentes son cuatro.
- Gobernabilidad. Lula asumirá un nuevo período de gobierno con un Congreso adverso y dominado por el “bolsonarismo” y fuerzas de centroderecha. “Lula tiene un gran desafío: lidiar con un Congreso opositor”, resumió Holzhacker. El escenario es complejo. Los legisladores de derecha y de centro controlarán con una mayoría simple el nuevo Parlamento si se unen. La dinámica en el Senado podría ser similar. Lula tendrá que poner en juego toda su capacidad de negociación para refrendar acuerdos con el “Centrao”, la coalición de partidos de centroderecha que suele dar gobernabilidad al presidente de turno, pero que respaldó a Flávio Bolsonaro en el balotaje. La izquierda quedó en absoluta minoría.
- Deuda y déficit fiscal. “La cuestión de la deuda pública es un gran desafío”, dijo Holzhacker. La deuda pública llegó al 82,9% del PBI y el déficit fiscal al 9,48%. Ambos indicadores están en alza y representan una amenaza para las cuentas públicas. Brasil necesitará una férrea disciplina fiscal. Además, las tasas de interés están en 13,75%, muy elevadas según advierten expertos. La inflación está controlada en 4,58 % interanual. Lula necesita rigor fiscal, pero prometió más inversión pública para impulsar el crecimiento, aumentar la recaudación y mantener así los vitales planes sociales de su gobierno. “Si el país no crece se limita el proceso de inversiones”, alertó la analista. Brasil necesita más inversiones petroleras y mineras, además del vital rubro de las tierras raras.
- Estados Unidos. Es un tema de difícil resolución. El presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, jugó duro a favor de Bolsonaro con fuertes presiones diplomáticas y la aplicación de aranceles que dieron un duro golpe a la economía brasileña. Lo paradójico es que Estados Unidos es su segundo socio comercial detrás de China. “Es el gran desafío externo”, dijo la analista. En juego estará también el difícil vínculo con la Argentina de Javier Milei, que apostó todo a ganador con Bolsonaro y dañó la relación bilateral con sus descalificaciones al presidente reelecto que lo tildó de ladrón. Las relaciones nunca estuvieron en un nivel tan bajo desde el regreso de la democracia.
Silva
INTERNACIONAL
Trump’s fingerprints seen on Latin America’s rightward shift as Brazil becomes next test
President Donald Trump’s political influence is reaching far beyond America’s borders as several Latin American countries shift toward right-leaning leadership, with Brazil emerging as the next major test of the region’s changing political direction.
For Argentina-born Trump rally attendee Marcelo Sandrin, who has lived in the U.S. for roughly three decades, the shift is unmistakable — and Trump deserves substantial credit.
Speaking to Digital outside the T. Ed Garrison Arena near Clemson, Sandrin pointed to Argentine President Javier Milei and the prospect of another rightward shift in Brazil as signs of what he sees as Trump’s growing influence. The trend comes as the Trump administration has also asserted U.S. power more directly in the region, most dramatically through the capture of Venezuelan socialist leader Nicolás Maduro.
«[Trump deserves] a lot of credit,» Sandrin told Digital, adding Milei is a very forceful libertarian, right-wing/small-government figure, and that during the Trump era, South America has moved «more and more to the right.»
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In Argentina, Milei has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent ideological allies in the hemisphere, pursuing sweeping economic reforms and challenging the left-wing political establishment that dominated much of the country’s recent history.
«Brazil is almost going to be [moving] to the right again. It’s only Mexico and Uruguay for now [on the left]. The problem in my country is one side or the other, they have to steal, stop stealing. That’s the number one thing.»
Brazil could provide another test of the region’s political direction, with allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro seeking to return the country to right-wing leadership. The country’s political future remains contested, however, underscoring the limits of describing Latin America’s political trajectory as a uniform rightward turn.
The Trump administration’s impact on the region has also extended beyond electoral politics. Venezuela underwent a dramatic change following the U.S. capture of longtime socialist leader Nicolás Maduro, an operation that Venezuela native and Manhattan Institute researcher Santiago Vidal Calvo argued reinforced Washington’s influence across the hemisphere and weakened the political order Maduro represented.
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«I have no doubt that President Trump has had a good influential policy towards making governments more right-leaning in Latin America,» Calvo said.
«I think that got exacerbated with the capture of Maduro,» he added. «A lot of people saw that the United States was again an influential force in the continent, that China was being kicked out in many fronts.»
Calvo argued that Trump, Milei and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have helped inspire right-leaning movements across the region, with implications extending beyond elections to immigration, trade, Chinese influence and national security.
He also pointed to China, arguing that Beijing expanded its influence in Latin America through loan agreements that differ from conventional North American banking transactions and can give it leverage in countries’ domestic affairs.
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The regional shift is far from uniform. Mexico remains governed by the left-wing Morena movement, making it a political counterpoint to Trump’s network of right-leaning regional allies. Uruguay also remains on the left, another exception to the trend Sandrin described.
Calvo also singled out Secretary of State Marco Rubio for praise, arguing that the administration’s Latin America strategy has been an underappreciated foreign-policy achievement.
«I think one of the highlights of this Trump administration has been a good example of foreign policy in Latin America, especially at the hand of [Marco] Rubio,» Calvo told Digital.
Digital’s Reagan Schroeder contributed to this report.
donald trump, latin america, south america, foreign policy, geopolitics, jair bolsonaro, politics, nicolas maduro, mexico, illegal immigrants, immigration, world
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