Texas Attorney General Accuses Muslim Residential Project of ‘Fraudulent’ Conduct

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is intensifying his investigation into EPIC City, a controversial development project backed by the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC). accusing its developers of securities violations and implicit Islamist ambitions. His move comes amid mounting skepticism over whether EPIC City constitutes a form of “Islamist enclave” masked as a suburban community.

In a formal letter dated today, October 14, 2025, Paxton’s office asked the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) to investigate the project’s alleged violations. Paxton asserts that Community Capital Partners (CCP) — the development arm of EPIC — committed both “procedural violations” and “fraudulent conduct” in offering investment opportunities tied to the project. The letter claims that CCP has already submitted over 750 documents in response to investigative demands.

In a press release, Paxton declared, “The bad actors behind this illegal scheme must be held accountable for ignoring state and federal regulations.”

In February 2025, Newsweek reported that the EPIC City proposal encompasses about 402 acres located roughly 40 miles northeast of Dallas. The project includes more than 1,000 homes, a mosque, private schools, commercial space, and infrastructure delivered via a municipal utility district.

Home for Radicalism?

Earlier this year, Focus on Western Islamism (FWI) documented how the City of Plano awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds to the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), even as state and federal officials were investigating the mosque’s leadership and affiliated development project, EPIC City.

As previous FWI coverage indicates, Plano provided at least $219,000 to EPIC through various community grant programs, including a $142,921 award issued on May 9, 2025—just weeks after Governor Greg Abbott directed state agencies to investigate the group for possible legal and regulatory violations.

EPIC’s leader, Yasir Qadhi, is a well-known imam and theologian with a long record of association with Islamist movements and rhetoric. In earlier lectures, Qadhi expressed hostility toward Jews and questioned aspects of the Holocaust. In one recording, he is heard endorsing the execution of homosexuals under Islamic law.

Although Qadhi later claimed to have moderated his views, his public statements continue to raise concern. In October 2016, he offered a defense of the Taliban, calling their actions understandable within an Islamic framework. And following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis, Qadhi refused to condemn the attacks, saying in a now hidden video that he had “the luxury of bluntly saying I am not going to condemn the fight of an oppressed people.”

More recently, Habibi, a prominent counter-Islamist account on X, has documented Qadhi promoting the “Dancing Israelis” conspiracy theory which holds that Israel was responsible for 9/11.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), other preachers at EPIC have praised the October 7 attacks, boasting that they “put horror in the hearts of the enemy,” and proclaiming that every “true Muslim would love to have such a death” as the Palestinian “martyrs.”

EPIC’s leadership, who have not responded to an FWI request for comment sent via WhatsApp, has also campaigned for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, an al-Qaeda operative convicted in 2010 for attempting to murder U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Siddiqui, who demanded that Jews be barred from her jury and accused unnamed Jews of orchestrating her prosecution, received an 86-year prison sentence for planning a “mass casualty attack” against Americans and allied forces.

Newsweek reports that EPIC organizers have publicly referred to the development as a “Muslim neighborhood” and say they are building a “Muslim-centric” community. They contend, however, that it will remain open to people of all faiths.

In an oblique reference to the project, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared that Texas should block “Sharia cities” and “no-go zones,” referring obliquely to EPIC City. The governor has repeatedly stated, “Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities.” EPIC’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, countered that such rhetoric is “Islamophobic” and slanderous, accusing Abbott of spreading falsehoods and inflaming anti-Muslim sentiment.

Since early 2025, Paxton has issued civil investigative demands to EPIC and CCP, as well as requests for records from nearby municipalities like Plano, Richardson, Wylie, and school districts that might have coordinated with EPIC. Earlier this year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) ordered cessation of construction until required permits are obtained. Abbott’s administration has also instructed various state agencies to probe EPIC for alleged discrimination, unlicensed operations, and other misconduct.

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) closed a civil rights investigation into EPIC City in June 2025. DOJ said CCP affirmed it would revise marketing and promise inclusivity consistent with the Fair Housing Act.