Add The New York Post on Google A UN-backed charity once chaired by Hunter Biden is standing by a Texas money man even as federal investigators probe his group’s possible ties to sanctioned Palestinian organizations, The Post has learned.
The World Food Program USA wiped its entire leadership roster from its website just days after this newspaper revealed the federal inquiry into PFF and its backers, including Basil Qunibi and a group of well-heeled Palestinian donors.
But despite the mounting controversy, the nonprofit insists the founder of Austin-based Atom Investors isn’t going anywhere and blamed the bizarrely timed disappearance of his profile on a routine IT issue.
“Both our staff and board pages are down for maintenance,” a WFP USA spokesperson told The Post. “Basil Qunibi is a member of our Board of Directors.”
They added that the IT work “will conclude by next week.” The rest of the organization’s website, including its donation portals, mission pages, and press releases, remained fully operational on Tuesday afternoon.
The Washington-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit raises money for the United Nations’ food assistance agency. Hunter Biden chaired the organization from 2011 to 2015, which overlapped with some of his controversial business dealings while Joe Biden served as vice-president under Barack Obama.
The website change followed The Post’s story detailing a Department of Homeland Security investigation into PFF and its backers.
It revealed the involvement of Qunibi, Australian billionaire and racecar driver Yasser Shahin, and Bassema Yousef, a Democratic fundraiser who is close to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in the pro-Palestinian group.
Sources said federal investigators are scrutinizing the trio’s involvement in PFF, an alleged $100 million UK-based political ‘war chest’ that helps fund anti-Israel messaging and provides support to Palestinian activists.
The feds are tracking the entity’s cross-border financial flows tied to anti-Israel advocacy and possible links to sanctioned organizations. Shahin is a high-profile motorsport champion whose family made their fortune from a chain of gas stations and convenience stores.
Authorities have not charged any of the trio with wrongdoing. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
But Qunibi’s representatives have since retreated from initial claims made to The Post that he did not finance PFF.
An anonymous source close to the financier told the Australian Financial Review on Friday that Qunibi donated to the network in a personal capacity.
A spokesperson at Prosek Partners, handling queries on Qunibi’s behalf, did not respond to The Post’s request for comment. Shahin and Yousef were not immediately available for comment.
The controversy continues to ripple Down Under because of Atom Investors’ connections to Australia’s $250 billion sovereign wealth fund, and Shahin’s high-profile status in the country.
He is a motorsport champion whose family made their fortune from a chain of gas stations and convenience stores. UK corporate filings confirm the Adelaide-born 49-year-old’s involvement in setting up PFF.
The Future Fund lists Qunibi’s firm as an external investment manager. A Future Fund spokesman did not respond to questions regarding how the fund evaluates individual managers facing US federal inquiries.
There is no indication that Atom Investors itself is a subject of the DHS probe.
Public records reveal additional philanthropic connections between the firm’s allies and Palestinian groups.
Abbas Zuaiter, an Atom advisory board member and former chief operating officer at Soros Fund Management, chairs the investment arm of the Palestinian charity Taawon.
The chairman and chief investment officer of 33 Capital has not been accused of any wrongdoing and is not being investigated by DHS.
Organizational records show Taawon previously partnered with and presented a 2010 award to Al-Haq, a West Bank legal group.
Israel designated Al-Haq a terrorist organization in 2021, alleging ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a charge the outfit denies.
The US government sanctioned Al-Haq last September for aiding International Criminal Court efforts to prosecute Israeli officials. Al-Haq denies the terrorism allegations and condemned the sanctions.
In 2015, Zuaiter and his wife established a donor-advised fund through the Center for Arab American Philanthropy in Michigan.
Public filings and media reports show the vehicle directed support to Taawon’s Gaza relief projects while aggregating grant distributions for tax deductions.
Donor-advised funds remain a standard US philanthropic mechanism, and public filings show no US sanctions against Taawon or the Michigan fund.
Zuaiter did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
