CONCORD, NH — A Windham charity, NuDay Syria, pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to file export information, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
NuDay pleaded guilty to falsifying records of shipments between 2018 and 2021. The records showed that NuDay shipped items to Mersin, Turkey and another transport company took the goods into Syria.
Nadia Alawa, the founder and president of NuDay, could face up to five years of probation and the organization could be fined up to $10,000 per count. As a condition to the plea, Alawa and her family will not be allowed any further involvement with NuDay.
Sentencing for all three counts will be Dec. 28 in U.S. District Court, 55 Pleasant St., Concord.
Due to sanctions put on Syria, NuDay was required to report that Syria was the final location for the shipments. Instead, it falsely reported that the final destination for the goods was Turkey, and not Syria, and artificially deflated the total value of the shipments so they would be below the reporting threshold.
One example in the press release that NuDay admits to is reporting the contents of a shipment labeled for Turkey from 2019 was valued at less than $2,500, but was actually worth $8.3 million an
d sent to Syria.
NuDay is a humanitarian organization that brings aid to women and children in Syria, Lebanon, Ukraine and the United States. On Charity Navigator, a website dedicated to reporting on charitable foundations transparency, NuDay scored as a four-star charity, the highest possible score.
Katelyn Sahagian can be reached at ksahagian@northofboston.com
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