Joey Allaham

Joey Allaham is a New York City entrepreneur. From 2017–2018, Allaham was a lobbyist for the government of Qatar.^[1]

Kosher restaurant business

Joey Allaham was born in Damascus and grew up in a Syrian Jewish family of butchers. They left in 1992 and Joey moved to New York City in 1993.^[2]

Allaham became known for his luxury kosher restaurants, especially Prime Grill, which was seen as New York's first high-end kosher steakhouse.^[3] Prime Grill was named the city’s top kosher restaurant for eight years in a row by Zagat. Allaham started three other upscale kosher restaurants - Solo (a Mediterranean-Asian fusion restaurant), Prime KO (a Japanese steakhouse), and Prime at the Bentley - as well as Prime Butcher Baker (an Ashkenazi and Sephardic gourmet food store).^[2][4] He founded Prime Hospitality Group, a company that offered kosher catering to resorts.^[5]

In 2013, he published The Prime Grill Cookbook, a kosher cookbook, with David Kolotkin.^[6]

In late 2017, all of Allaham's Kosher businesses closed. Prime Grill closed in September 2017, along with the adjacent Pizza da Solo. In October 2017 Prime Butcher Baker closed and finally, Prime at the Bentley in November 2017.^[7]

Qatar lobbying

In early 2017, Allaham began working with Nicolas Muzin, a Washington-based lobbyist, introducing Qatari officials to Muzin and to other influential Republicans. Mother Jones, in its June 13 article "How the King of New York Kosher Restaurants Helped Qatar Win Over American Jewish Leaders", reported that Allaham belatedly admitted that he was paid by the Qataris for this work, "part of an extensive effort by Qatar to improve its relations with the Trump administration and its political supporters." In September 2017, "Muzin registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for Qatar."^[8]

In concert with Muzin, "Allaham took the lead in introducing Qataris to prominent American Jewish figures. He offered them trips to Doha, where they could meet with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and other government officials... The outreach to Jewish leaders organized by Allaham has been a small piece of Qatar's campaign to generate goodwill among individuals who may have Trump's ear." On August 29, Allaham consequesntly told The Wall Street Journal that he along with his business partner Nick Muzin have identified 250 people as influential in President Trump’s orbit.^[9]

American Jewish leaders who accepted trips organized by Allaham or Muzin included Alan Dershowitz, head of the Zionist Organization of America Mort Klein, Malcolm Hoenlein, and Menachem Genack, "a rabbi who is CEO of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, which oversees certification of thousands of kosher food facilities around the world."

As part of Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy's lawsuit against Qatar on charges of hacking his email, a federal judge ruled on June 6 that Allaham "must turn over any records showing ties to the government of Qatar." Broidy has alleged that Allaham worked as an unregistered agent of Qatar through lobbyist Nicholas Muzin. The judge gave Allaham 72 hours to comply.^[10] Later, Muzin and the state of Qatar have been dismissed from the lawsuit by a federal judge citing jurisdiction issues. ^[11] , ^[12]

On June 7, Allaham consequently told Politico that he recently cut ties with Qatar, a day after Muzin declared on Twitter that he had stopped working for Qatar. He informed Politico "that he would register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for the work he performed for Qatar." Allaham also implicated former Qatari diplomat Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, who he said asked him "lie to the press that Steve Bannon had maliciously created" a lawsuit against him.^[13][14]

On June 15, Allaham retroactively registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for Qatar. He listed his clients as the "State of Qatar" and the "Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy," specifying his respective official points of contact for each as Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the younger brother of the emir, Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.^[15][16]

In his disclosures, Allaham reported that, on behalf of Qatar, he paid Mike Huckabee $50,000 for visiting Qatar and donated $100,000 to the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), half of which was only transferred after the head of the ZOA, Mort Klein, visited Qatar in early January 2018. Allaham said he disbursed this money from $1.45 million paid him for "'community engagement' to benefit Qatar—actions that included making 'charitable contributions and arranging meetings in the United States and visits to Qatar.'"^[15][17][18]

Allaham singled out for praise the help for Qatar provided by ZOA president Klein, noting in a June 21, 2018 Jerusalem Post report that he was "proud of the work that Mort Klein has done... in collaboration with the Emir and other members of the Qatari Royal Family."^[19] Klein denied this, however, saying he "never in any way lobbied for Qatar," and noted that the donation to the ZOA was rejected and returned.^[20]

References