Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Rest of the Story.....

Dear Friends and Readers:

As many of you know, I started to write my book in a blog entitled An Al-Masri Story.  It's a story about the "blow-up" of my restaurant after Hatem, my business partner, was hospitalized with a head injury.  And, as you know, I sort of bogged down and stopped writing.  But, I hadn't gone away.  In the interim, I was gathering evidence and documentation.  I'm still in the process of continuing with that blog.


Adib Nassar informing me of Security
While I was away from this blog story since October of 2011, I tried to reach out and communicate with the Nassar family through written correspondence, but to no avail.  I then attended the Lebanese American Association (LAA) Gala Dinner at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency last November 3, and made it a point to shake the hand of Adib Nassar, President of LAA and father to the two young girls who had been a part of my life since the inception of Al-Masri.  To my surprise, Mr. Nassar vehemently told me, under no uncertain terms and after I had asked him if he had been getting my written correspondence, that I would be thrown out by security if I were to make a scene.  He said he had already spoken to them after he had seen me walk into the hall.  Oh, he also said that he was throwing my letters and packages into the garbage without reading any of it because "that's where they belonged."  Apparently, he had seen me come into the reception room with two of my good friends prior to our contact and became alarmed for reasons he, himself, would only know -- perhaps brought about by a guilty conscience?  I guess he wasn't aware of how much I had once been a part of the Lebanese community.  In fact, Adib Nassar's brother, Dia, used to work for my former husband when we both had The Grapeleaf Lebanese Restaurant in San Francisco.  Stands to reason why I would attend an LAA event.  Needless to say, I don't think he and his family, including his daughters, were prepared to see me and deal with my presence after being absent from the Lebanese community for over six years. 

For these past six plus years, I've thought intently about the Nassar's unabashed denial and the grave injustice that was dealt me after Hatem's head injury.  And, as many of you have come back to Al-Masri, for which I am so hugely grateful, I think you -- my friends and supporters -- should know the truth of how I came back to an Al-Masri that had been raped, plundered, and pillaged; and about my subsequent six-year struggle to bring it back to where it is today.


Checks forged with Hatem's name,
and one of many that was written to someone
not affiliated with Al-Masri
As I have not had any response from the Nassar family, to date -- written or verbal -- to my multiple attempts at reaching out, I'm now offering, for your perusal, the opportunity to read my written correspondence to Adib and Patricia Nassar, parents to Samar and Gabriela, so that you may see for yourselves what I have had to deal with.  I know that many of you have been curious but have been too polite to ask.  To date, I have not been offered any kind of compensation or been given any kind of apology or the slightest bit of acknowledgment or rebuttal from anyone in that family for what happened.  None of the Nassar family is taking any responsibility, yay or nay; and, in fact, during our conversation at the LAA Gala Dinner, Adib Nassar insisted I just forget all about it, as if it never happened.  Was this another admission of guilt?  After all, why was he insisting I forget something just after stating emphatically seconds before that he didn't read what I had sent to him but threw it away instead?  The problem is that I simply cannot, and this is what I told him.  This really did happen; they knew all about it -- before it was going to happen and after it happened.  I have proof of it happening; and copies of this proof as evidence of it having happened, in the form of canceled checks, forged checks with Hatem's name, and other documents along with the below correspondence, were sent to that family.  Yet, to date, I have heard nothing nor gotten anything from them.



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These checks are a small sample of the sums that were paid to Gabriela's and Samar's personal utilities, health care, and personal phone bills.  From 2006 to 2007, Al-Masri accounts were pilfered on a regular basis under the auspices of trust.

Checks were also made out to Gabriela Nassar, by Gabriela herself, and signed by Gabriela, then deposited into her personal accounts. There are no receipts that pertain or match to these checks or identifiable documents as to why they were written.  Gabriela was paying herself.

The checks here are only samples of January and February of 2007.  They get written out in larger sums as the year goes by.  I think Gabriela and Samar were paid handsomely!


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It has been over six years since I took back my beloved Al-Masri.  After many heart aches that have furrowed my brow and volumes of tears that have been shed, I think now is the time the world knows what happened.  It's been too long and a long time coming.  This is a moment of sharing with all of you.  There is justice in writing a blog even when a Police Report, which I eventually submitted, doesn't offer any. 

Here are the three letters I wrote to the Nassar family to which I have never received any acknowledgment, rebutal or repudiation to any of them.

In other words, here is the rest of the story.
Please comment or pass along my blog story.

(Just as a matter of information, my partner Hatem, passed away of lung cancer in August of 2008.  He had been diagnosed long before time spent in the hospital for his head injury.  He is sorely missed by those who loved him.  The restaurant theme was a vision of his, which he made come to fruition, but belonged to Yours Truly long before it opened in 1999 until present.)

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October 31, 2011

Dear Adib and Patricia:

I have struggled during the past four plus years -- since around the time Hatem was admitted with a brain contusion into the hospital and especially after he passed away -- to come to terms with the extreme upset and anguish that ripped through my life about that time from certain discoveries; discoveries I was forced to face that ultimately resulted in the loss of my home in San Bruno, my dance studio on Geary Boulevard, and my restaurant on Balboa Street, along with the loss of my financial status and welfare; and the loss of Hatem’s home on Twenty-third Avenue where your daughters used to live, as well as his wife’s loss of financial status and welfare.  But most of all, I have had to reassess my trust in humanity, which was unduly compromised to the enth degree by the malicious and thoughtless actions of your two daughters, Samar and Gabriela.  I know that you know of what I am writing about.

I am writing today to offer information, information which I think you should know about from my side, nothing more; any amount of which you may or may not know.  Either way, after reading this letter, you will most likely know more than what you knew before.  What you do with this information is what you will do with this information, but I write it because of a conversation you, Adib, had with me outside Al-Masri in the garage one evening during the first week of April 2007, while Hatem was laid up, wherein you tried to warn me about something Samar was going to do if I did not meet with her demands; a warning that indicates to me you knew what she was going to do or may have been capable of doing at that time, and that you were going along with it.  I also write because of a statement that you, Patricia, said to me on that same evening asking me (to my surprise) not "hurt" Samar to which I replied "never" indicating that you knew of something of Samar's premeditative plans.  Both of you were dining at Al-Masri "on-the-house" on that evening as I found no dinner check later that month for your table that night.  

But mostly, I write this letter to the both of you, without accusation or threat to anyone mentioned, solely as a personal and private rendition of my own experience as I lived through it.  In other words, I write it for your information only.

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Samar indicated via a third party and perhaps to you that she was never compensated for her participation here at the restaurant, which she incorrectly called "employee-type work".  Let it be known that, while Samar and Gabriela were not deemed "employees" of Al-Masri, upon going through my restaurant files, year by year, from 2000 to 2007, both she and Gabriela were indeed compensated handsomely in trade, or otherwise, during the time they were involved in the restaurant; an involvement that came under a verbal agreement by all involved that included both an accepted and self-proclaimed learner/honorary status, and where both were knowingly and willingly placed on the "honor system" and under my complete trust as owner of Al-Masri while they were affiliated with my restaurant from 2000 to 2007.  


I offer the following (incomplete) list of compensation:

1.  Private scholarship-type lessons in belly dance for around five years for Samar and around one year for Gabriela.
2.  Private scholarship-type lessons in paint and art technique for around seven years for Samar.  Lessons and subsequent projects included all paint/canvas/art materials, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
3.  Private children's parties including room rental, food/drinks, graphic design, printed material, publicity, time/energy spent obtaining food/drinks, cooks time, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.  All revenue negotiated for children's parties was paid to Samar.
4.  Graphic design and printed materials to Western Flavors & Fragrances, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
5.  Paid performances to Samar from the Fine Arts Museums and other reputable venues under the Al-Masri umbrella; specifically but not limited to:
    A.  Women of the Nile at Rosicrucian Museum - 1999
    B.  Eternal Egypt Exhibit - 2001 and 2002 (two performances)
    C.  Grand Opening of the new De Young Museum - 2005
    D.  Dancing on the Nile - 2006
6.  Kaiser Permanent Health Insurance Premiums to Samar and Gabriela, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
7.  Payment checks of a personal nature written by Samar for house appraisals, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
8.  Car payments for both Samar and Gabriela, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
9.  A gasoline credit card provided and paid for by my late mother, and additional gasoline compensation to both Samar and Gabriela after the death of my mother, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
10.  Performance costumes, jewelry, and accessories for use at Al-Masri or by Al-Masri contracted events both by Samar and Gabriela, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.  These costumes were later removed from Al-Masri premises.
11.  Musical instruments, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.  These musical instruments were later removed from and/or were never returned to Al-Masri premises; specifically but not limited to one Yamaha S90 88-Key Weighted Action Synthesizer.
12.  Sony camcorder, paid for by Al-Masri accounts and later removed from Al-Masri premises.
13.  Computer peripherals, paid for by Al-Masri accounts and later removed from or never returned to Al-Masri premises; specifically but not limited to:
    A.  Scanner(s)
    B.  HP Photo printer
    C.  Printers(s)
    D.  LCD Screen(s)
    F.  Keyboard(s)
    G.  Hard Drive(s)
14.  Various and sundry PC and Apple software including but not limited to Dreamweaver, Norton Anti-virus, font and other pertinent and related administrative, graphic, and technical software, paid for by Al-Masri accounts and later removed from and/or never returned to Al-Masri premises.
15.  Unlimited access to Al-Masri restaurant food and drink, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
16.  Consistent periodic cash payments made to both Samar and Gabriela, provided by Hatem and myself, and taken from Al-Masri accounts.
17.  Kitchen multi-gallon soup pots, steam table, dishes, eating utensils, knives, cutting boards, cookie jars, commercial bakers cabinet, washer/dryer, storage containers, paid for by Al-Masri accounts and later removed from Al-Masri premises.
18.  Private scholarship-type lessons in cooking and food preparation for around five years for Samar.
19.  Dinners offered “On the House” to discretionary friends and family, like yourselves, paid for by Al-Masri accounts.
20.  Dinners paid for with cash to Al-Masri of which such cash is not accountable and dinner checks not made taken from Al-Masri accounts.
21.  Furnishings, upgrades, and six months rent free in Hatem’s house on Twenty-third Avenue, San Francisco, CA.

Not only were your daughters compensated handsomely for their participation in the restaurant under these compensatory arrangements, many of them made without my knowledge or approval, they were, in fact, treated very well and with the greatest respect and keen attention to their safety.

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Upon entering my restaurant back in mid April 2007, a few days after Hatem had informed Samar of his intent to close it temporarily for assessment reasons due to his extended stay in the hospital and subsequent recuperation at his home in mid April 2007, I noticed that Samar and Gabriela had seemingly completely vacated the premises.  I then saw to my shock and horror that my kitchen was covered in rat and mice feces and urine that were strewn about on all stove tops, counter tops, bread bags, pantry shelves, and all open and closed containers.  I further discovered that both my kitchen ventilation system and my dishwasher were both broken, and that the faucets to the kitchen sink were non-functional and had been replaced with non-commercial faucet knobs.  And, beneath the stovetop burners lay a one-half inch thick layer of blackened compressed rat droppings and other questionable debris.  One can only wonder how long the rodent infestation had been going on, for it wasn't an event that might have taken place in one weekend as indicated by the amount of droppings that had accumulated.  One can also only wonder why none of this was ever wiped down or cleaned up.  I found the place to be such a disgrace as well as alarming at the amount of visible filth that was present, as the restaurant was still in operation up until the time Hatem sent the email to Samar pertaining to the temporary closure just a few days before.  It's no wonder that the Department of Health didn't have a say in its condition.

While I was cleaning the mess both upstairs and downstairs, assessing the damage and filth and thinking about what needed my attention first to keep my restaurant afloat during this confusing and stressful period of time, I further discovered that the lesser of the two office computers, which had been left in the office, had had it hard drive completely erased and all intellectual and digital data had been removed from it; data which would have helped in the continuing operation of the restaurant after your two daughters' unannounced leave.   

These intellectual data, that are the property of Al-Masri, included the following:

1.  Al-Masri website URLs which I purchased with Al-Masri funds in 2001/2 and in 2005 and which were placed under Samar's name without my knowledge or approval in 2005.
2.  Al-Masri customer/client list with postal addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers accumulated from 2000 to 2007.
3.  Al-Masri website files pertaining to the upload and maintenance of the Internet website, designed by Hatem and entrusted in Samar’s care.

To make matters worse, only couple weeks later, I was then contacted by my personal banker who was also the bank manager of the then Washington Mutual Bank on Irving Street only to be told that Samar, who had been entrusted and placed on the bank signature card earlier that year before Hatem’s fall, had been in the bank on that morning and had tried to close down my business account.

In addition to all that was taken from Al-Masri as listed above, I, now in my day-to-day efforts to keep the restaurant alive and open to the public, was informed by various vendors, with whom I am now doing business again, that your two daughters were spreading stories about closing Al-Masri and announcing that a new one would be opening in the East Bay, and that Al-Masri belonged to Samar as the rightful owner.  I have this information in good standing with several salespeople from reputable restaurant and food vending businesses.  

I am still stunned by Samar’s and Gabriela’s blatant disregard for me, my restaurant, my livelihood, and my welfare.  In my many years of knowing Samar, I loved and treated her has the daughter I never had, and I gave her some of my most treasured possessions including the following:  

1.  My wedding dress, which was my mother's wedding dress, and which I regard as priceless.
2.  Original 1960’s/1970’s LPs worth thousands of dollars.
3.  Vintage crystal costume jewelry worth thousands of dollars.
4.  Leather, wool, and sheepskin coats worth thousands of dollars.
5.  Musical instruments worth thousands of dollars.
6.  Vintage belly dance costumes which I deem priceless.

I also loaned her a set of vintage China that I had bought when I was 20 years old, decorated with little blue and yellow flowers along with serving platters, bowls, gravy boats, etc., (the whole works) for 15 people worth thousands of dollars, which I found out a few weeks after that she had given it away to a friend as a wedding present.  This China set was a "loan", and I had specifically indicated this to her when I entrusted it to her care, but she apparently gave it away with little regard, if any, to my wishes or my feelings.

And during this tyrannical rampage and destruction of my restaurant and ultimate livelihood, she had the scornfulness to sue me for one-third of my restaurant, the very thing she had so vehemently and passionately tried to destroy.  In fact, in total, I was sued seven times from various vendors and businesses from the fallout of this extreme calamitous occurrence.  Indeed, I was also faced with unpaid business taxes to which interest and penalties had accumulated, and for which I am still today struggling to pay.

To date, as I publicize my dance classes, I sometimes receive emails from Samar's numerous students who have signed up at Hipline Fitness Center who ask about my academy classes.  Of course, I tell them always that I was Samar's and Gabriela's former and primary teacher.  You can imagine their surprise at that bit of information.  Some of these women go on to enroll in my dance academy, and when they do, they bring in some used costumes that they bought from Hipline; costumes that are some of the many that were removed from Al-Masri.

------------------------------

Since Hatem’s death in August of 2008, I find it rather odd that neither of you have ever called to inquire about me nor about Hatem’s wife.  Yet, while Patricia lay in the hospital in an apparent life-threatening situation back before his death, Hatem made it a point to call you, Adib, and inquire as to Patricia's health on a daily if not consistent basis.  Moreover, Samar and Gabriela never called to offer their help during Hatem’s illness nor convey their condolences after Hatem’s passing; and this after everything Hatem and I did for them.

When Samar left Al-Masri, taking with her everything that allowed the restaurant to function successfully, everyone assumed Al-Masri had closed for good.  One former customer even came forward and said that she had gotten an email from the restaurant return email address to that effect.  One wonders who else got this email since I no longer had access to that email list.  With no URL, no website, no customer list, and no working computer, there was no income.  There was no business.  There was nothing to pay the bills or the expenses or the mortgages.  And when Samar refused to pay the rent in the house she was living in that belonged to Hatem during the last six months of occupying it, he lost his house to foreclosure.  Because of this domino effect, I also lost my house.  And, as I then turned all my attention in my own survival and the survival of my restaurant to try to get back some degree of business (and sanity), I consequently lost my dance studio and was sued for breaking that lease.

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Both of you may think that all of this is really none of your business and both of you may ask how any of it may pertain to either of you.  And, to this, I have to wonder what kind of children you raised so as to turn so violently against the very people who loved and supported them.  While you may not feel responsible for their actions, they are still your children; children who caused great harm -- harm that both of you knew was going to happen -- and devastatingly financial loss to more people than just Hatem's wife and myself.  These are your children.  You are their teachers; their role models.  How do you account for their actions?  How do you account for your actions in the wake of theirs?  

I have calculated a ballpark figure of about 2.8 million dollars worth of loss and destruction caused by the actions of your daughters, which includes the loss of both houses, the tax issues, all the lawsuits and attorneys fees that resulted, loss of personal possessions as a result of house foreclosures, and the loss of business and revenue that I have incurred to date in the wake of their actions.  I have not placed a value on stress, mental and physical anguish, and slander, but if I were to give value to that, it would be considerably and geometrically higher.  

Because of all of this, I am seriously entertaining the thought of writing a book about this period of time in my life.  It does contain a lot of intrigue and other public-hungry and juicy infomation.  If I can write a multi-page letter like this one in only a few days, imagine how fast I can write a book!  

I have related these experiences and the possibility of writing a book to numerous friends, especially to those who were there with me when all of it was happening, and they all concur that a book would be in order.  They all witnessed first hand what was happening.  I have, in fact, begun to write an outline highlighting the events that will be the foundation to each chapter.  Although I would most definitely change the names in my book, to protect the "innocent", I would most likely indicate same in the preface.  Anyone reading it would then correctly assume about what and whom I may be writing.  

I think that this book would serve its purpose twofold.  First, it would help me to get beyond that which was dumped on me during Hatem’s cancer illness and subsequent death; and second, it would bring in the much needed revenue that would cover at least a percentage of the monetary loss I have incurred and of what was taken from me.  I think it is a step in the right direction.  It might even do well in a movie.

Earlier this year, after four years of vigilance, I finally got back my website URLs which were always legally mine.  I can only summarize the Samar had grown weary of paying the annual fee to keep them from me.  Why she kept them at all is a wonderment.  They were of no value to her except to keep me from realizing a successful business.  But, as you can see, I am still going strong.  And, after four plus years, my attorney is going to get his final payment in a couple of months.  All of this could have been preventable had both of you done some investigation of your own into what really happened at Al-Masri.

As an aside, I still wonder if Al-Masri was ever broken into or vandalized in late March 2007, as Samar had told me, where she contracted with a locksmith to changed the locks and specifically told me not to give a key to Hatem.  I never saw a police report, and none seems to have been filed either in the Sunset or Richmond District Police Department when I went to go get it.  What did you teach your daughters?

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Most, if not all, employees go to work at any given business and retire expecting nothing more than a gold watch and a letter of appreciation.  They give a life time and work and energy as required and are rewarded with far less than what your daughters ultimately received in a much shorter time.  These employees are not given, nor do they take, nor expect, nor feel entitled to any percentage of that business for which they have worked, like what Samar, who was not an employee but more like a daughter to me, had taken or had tried to take from me.

I have put a 2.8 million dollar ballpark figure on the loss I incurred.  But that's only for materials and objects.  How does one put a price on love?  Or on betrayal, for that matter?   I had nothing but love for your two daughters.  I gave them everything, including myself and my time, unselfishly.  Yet, in this expression of my love, I was handed nothing less than the flip of a middle finger; a betrayal that even I cannot comprehend.  And with that came rumors, which I often hear, that Samar is self-taught in belly dance because of her Lebanese heritage, that she produced all the events at the Fine Arts Museums on her own during the time she was affiliated with Al-Masri, and that she actually owned Al-Masri outright.  All of this couldn’t be further from the truth, as I am sure you will agree.

I am in awe at how all of you, and your daughters, treated and ultimately repaid me for my kindness and generosity.  I didn't deserve this maniacal undertaking by your daughters along with your ambivalence in attitude and concern during this period and its aftermath.  I never hurt Samar.  I never hurt Gabriela.  I welcomed both of them into my life and into my heart and into my restaurant and dance academy with no expectation from either one of them except that of loyalty, trust, and respect -- reasonable, to say at best.  I gave both of them my treasured possessions, my support and encouragement, and the benefit of my life's experience, unquestioningly, through the teachings of the dance and the workings of the restaurant.  

I also never hurt either of you, Adib and Patricia.  In fact, I welcomed the both of you into my establishment (my home) with open arms, respect, and free dinners and drink each and every time.

Again, this letter is written and sent to you for your information only.  No threats; no accusations; no actions taken.  I just thought you both should know the other side of the story.  And, if you do indeed truly believe I did deserve this, I ask only that the both of you meet me on neutral grounds and enlighten me.

Respectfully,

Susan F. Molthen

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April 24, 2012

Dear Adib and Patricia:

I want to thank you for answering my call to you last November 17, 2011 acknowledging receipt of my letter to you dated October 31, 2011.  I also want to thank you for asking me what to do about it.  It indicated to me that you were open to communicating about the horrendous destruction your two daughters did to me, my life, my business, and to others affiliated with me and my business.

As promised in my last email to you on April 18, 2012, I am following up with information regarding the sum totals of monies spent by your two daughters, Gabriela and Samar, for the years of 2005, 2006, and 2007 from my business account.  These totals are taken from the restaurant business records as your daughters left them when they vacated my restaurant in April 2007.

As stated in my email to you on April 18, 2012, a total of over $37,000 in 2006 was spent by Gabriela and Samar on themselves for personal items using Al-Masri business revenue.  And, as I indicated in a Christmas card I sent to you last December, a total of over $30,000 was spent.  For 2007, which includes the Months of January through April, I have come up with a total of around $16,000 for a grand total of over $83,000 spent on personal gain for the years 2005/6/7.

These funds, as listed specifically in detail in my bank statements and/or correlated with invoices where applicable, were spent on the following but not limited to:

•  women’s apparel (clothing, shoes, accessories) bought in various stores including Nordstroms, J. Peterman, Mervyns, Ambiance, and others;
•  personal home decor items including rugs/carpets, window shades, and non-Al-Masri paint colors for which I have the invoice but cannot find the actual items in the restaurant;
•  POS payments for personal items bought such as cookware, fabrics, reference books, compact discs, beads, which invoices are not in the physical records but are documented on the bank statements;
•  Nail and beauty salon POS payments;
•  various and sundry gasoline service station POS payments where Al-Masri either filled up your daughters’ gasoline tanks and/or paid for work done on their cars;
•  receipts from an optometrist for Gabriela’s glasses, canceled checks for Gabriela’s voice lessons, receipts from a medical doctor for Samar for some medical tests, and receipts for vitamin/nutritional supplements.

I have also found receipts where funds were spent on underwear, costume jewelry, nail polish, hair cleaning and conditioning products, fragrances, and makeup.  There are POS payments for dining in other places, and for food items bought at various grocery stores for their personal consumption.  These grocery store receipts list hot dogs, pork chops, and other items not on my menu.  Most of these POS payments or receipts are from Walgreens, Safeway, Andronico’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and others  And, not least, there are payments made to Hostway paid from my business account for my website, almasrirestaurant.com and almasrisf.com, long after Samar changed all the website ownership over to her name.  

Moreover, checks written and signed by your daughters also show that Al-Masri paid for your daughters’ Kaiser insurance, car insurance, car payments, personal household utility usage, cell phone usage, television cable, parking tickets, Fastrak passes and penalties, tow charges, personal dry cleaning/laundry, credit card payments, and payments made to Gabriela’s personal bank accounts with no supporting documents.

But most disturbingly, I found hundreds and thousands of dollars being siphoned systematically out of the Al-Masri bank account on a weekly basis with withdrawals using ATM cards or personally withdrawn, including during the time Hatem was in the hospital.  All of this siphoning and personal shopping from my business account resulted in an average of over $250 a month in overdraft fees, bounced check fees, and insufficient funds fees.  Over this two year and four month period, over $7000 was charged to my account by the bank for these fees.

Looking around my restaurant, aside from what I listed in my letter to you of October 31 and my subsequent email to you of November 1 (copy enclosed), I have further discovered that there are 12 chairs missing as well as my $1500 custom-made striped and lined curtain randomly cut in half with a pair of scissors.  I also have 12 additional table bases and 12 table tops which were ordered from a restaurant supply warehouse for reasons unknown.  And, the simple dial-style thermostat in the dining area was replaced with a completely computerized thermostat with no instructions left on how to operate it.

So, again, I ask the both of you, where and how is it that I hurt your daughters, Gabriela or Samar?  With over $83,000 taken by your two daughters and another $7000 in fees claimed by the bank for their selfishness, where is the evidence that they were hurt or never paid?

While I struggled to maintain my own health during those years without any kind of insurance, sought means of procuring finances to pay for my own house note as well as other utility/car/home insurance expenses, allowed my own dental needs to go unaddressed because I was told that the restaurant was not doing well, I now see how your two daughters were carelessly and selfishly buying and spending on themselves what was my livelihood.  Your daughters’ evident misappropriation of funds from both restaurant-generated business and from the refinance of my home and second mortgage leaves me numb and bewildered at the insensitive nature and measure of your daughters’ behavior.  But your apparent non-acceptance of responsibility by rewarding their actions with an all-expense-paid trip to Spain is, to me, mind boggling.  Had you known the extent of their actions, would you have still flown them all to Spain in a celebration of the destruction of my life?  Please tell me how did I destroy theirs?  How did I hurt them?  What stories did they tell you?

I have offered and continue to offer this information to you and other like information since my first letter back in October 31, 2011.  I have also offered you opportunities to call me and to talk more about what your daughters did and to show you proof of their destruction in the documents I have with the amounts of money that were taken from my bank account.  This letter is again an attempt to urge you to be forthcoming in your offer last November 17 to help do something about it -- even if just to talk about it.  They are YOUR daughters.

As I stated before, I do not write to accuse or to threaten anyone.  I write to offer you information only -- information that I am sure you were not made aware of until my first letter to you on October 31, 2011.  While I no longer have the legal right to pursue criminal action against anyone, and I am not planning to do so, I may have other options or means for some recovery which have become available to me.

I understand that you have co-signed on a house note with Gabriela in the purchase of a home in Dublin.  I wonder where Gabriela got enough money to do that.  Certainly, her part-time job at the Moonstruck Chocolate Company shop on Chestnut Street couldn’t have paid her enough to acquire a down payment on a house.  And since both of your daughters have emphatically claimed that I never paid them, where did Gabriela get all that money?  

That being said, I sincerely hope to hear from you and Patricia at your earliest possible convenience.  I hope to have spoken to your conscience and appealed to your sense of humanity for the wrongdoings of your two daughters.  Perhaps I can speak to your Christian faith as well of which you and I both share and are a part.  Do you really think I deserved what I got for trusting and believing in your daughters?  A meeting would bring some measure of peace.  Do you not think you owe me that much?  

If I don’t hear from you, I will fairly yet regrettably assume that you don’t think yourselves measurably responsible for the outcome of your daughters’ behavior -- having been the parents and, therefore, the teachers of them -- your offspring -- in their learning of life; and how their behavior ultimately destroyed ruined the lives of the people who love them the most, made them feel safe, and cared about their feelings, outside of their own biological family.

I will await your call.

Sincerely,

Susan F. Molthen

Enclosure:  As stated

PS.  I have written a letter to Samar requesting that Hatem’s paintings be returned to his grieving widow, should she have them or know where they are.  I have not accused anyone, only that since Samar resided in his home that she may have taken his painting for safe-keeping for which I have thanked her in the letter.  If you have seen these paintings, please do what you can to return them to Rosemary.  She is in deep mourning still for the loss of her husband.  The return of his paintings would ease that loss tremendously.

----------------------------

October 25, 2012


Dear Adib and Patricia:

It has been almost one year since my initial letter to you last October 31, 2011 telling you of the rampage that your two daughters went on, causing my life undo stress, heartache, hardship, pain, and suffering out of which I am still trying to recover.  I’m still waiting for an answer from you as to why I was the target for such malicious actions.  

I have sent Samar and Gabriela a letter regarding Hatem’s paintings but have heard nothing.  I have also sent you the same letter.  No response.  Moreover, I have also sent letters to my former student, Ghermanie, in care of Hipline studio only to have these letters returned and being told that nothing from Al-Masri or me will be accepted.  Again, what did I do to cause such hatred in both of your daughters?  If it was so bad, then why do they both not answer to my allegations?  Why don’t YOU answer me?

Numerous Hipline students are migrating over to the Sausan Academy.  Not a single one of them have said that I was your daughters’ teacher of this dance.  Samar came to me for dance lessons for over almost five years, and Gabriela took lessons from me for almost a year.  Do they think that they both learned this dance miraculously because they are of Lebanese descent?

I have enclosed two volumes (2005 and 2006/07) of copies of documents for your information.  These include canceled checks written by Samar and Gabriella to themselves, for their home utilities, for their personal beauty products, for their lunches, for their personal fashion apparel, for their traffic tickets, car tows, insurances -- both car and health, -- and much much more.  It sickens me.  I have made copies of my bank statements for the years 2006/07 to show you how much money was being raped (withdrawn) from my bank accounts and how I suffered thousands of dollars in overdraft and bounced check fees because of their selfishness and greediness as evidenced by these withdrawals.  I’m still looking for my 2005 bank statements.  I have made copies of receipts given to my bookkeeper as tax write-offs to show you how much they were buying for themselves and not for the restaurant, receipts that include trips to Pure Beauty, Andronicos, Walgreens, gas stations, health stores, dry cleaning, Nordstroms, Ambiance, Squat and Gobble.  You will also see that a lot of money was being taken by Gabriela and funnelled into her Washington Mutual accounts and Citi Bank Accounts.  And some canceled checks and bank statements seem to be conveniently missing.  Is this what you taught your daughters to do?

I am also enclosing the letter dated April 24, 2012, (Certified Mail Receipt No. 7009-1680-0001-2004-1294), which you apparently chose to ignore to pick up from the Post Office, that told you I was researching years 2006 and 2007.  This letter explains the further atrocity that was being generated by your two daughters during this period, yet you chose to ignore it.

For the year 2005, your two daughters managed to walk away with around $33,490.  For the years 2006 and 2007, the total was around $81,239 for a total of $114,729.  Now, I have the proof, and it is in your hands.  And these amounts do not take into account the large amounts of hard cash that was being taken from my customers -- one of which I know of where Samar’s friend, Michael Williams, had paid for his party in cash via an envelope, handed to her in his car.  There is no dinner check to indicate that there was ever a party, yet I was there that night and witnessed the party.

When I submitted a police report on Samar a couple of years back, Samar indicated to the detective when he contacted her as a result of my police report that she never got paid.  I think she and Gabriela got paid quite handsomely, don’t you?  Gabriela and Samar both each received $57,365 in a 27-month time span, which averages out to around $2,125 each, a month.  I lost my house and my home, my dance studio, and almost my restaurant had it not been for the kindness of a few of my close friends who watched me go through this terrible crime.  Hatem’s wife lost her house on 23rd Avenue in which Samar was living as well as large amounts of money taken from her credit cards in the guise of restaurant operation to supplement Gabriela’s and Samar’s lifestyle.  And you apparently rewarded them with a trip to Spain.  Consequently, Samar and Gabriela procured a house and a dance studio.  And now, they have a second studio.  I wonder where the money came from -- just a thought.

If you think that this is going to go away, I can assure it will not.  I may not have legal recourse but the tangible proof I have, and which you now have, speaks volumes of your daughters’ character.  And, the world is small, isn’t it?  And, I’m sure you know that the Universe has a way of righting all things wronged.

Again, this letter is not a threat to the both of you or to anyone affiliated with you.  It is only to provide you with information and tangible proof of what your two daughters did.  I did not make this up -- hard tangible proof of a chronology of a crime I can’t even fathom but that is glaring proof that it did happen.  And both of you knew she was going to do this!!  How can you both ignore this?

I’m still waiting for your call as you offered in our conversation of November 17, 2011, to see what you want to do with this.  

Sincerely yours,

Susan F. Molthen

Enclosures:  As stated

10 comments:

Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...

Dear Readers:

Just to be clear, my restaurant kitchen has been scrubbed clean since the disappearance of these two girls, and the Department of Health has since given it and the rest of my restaurant clean bills of health and cleanliness every six months.

I'm still waiting to hear from the people to whom my letters are addressed.

-Sausan

Anonymous said...

Why did you not have them jailed for embezzlement? I would of locked them up so fast their heads would spin.

I hope things are better now.

Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...

Yes, I could have done that, but I take responsibility in the amount of trust I handed over to Samar and Gabriela. I never thought that the embezzlement would go to this extreme, so I only went through my books for this period with a fine tooth comb and discovered how huge the crime was after the statute of limitations had expired.

I do thank my lucky stars that I had the where-with-all to file a police report against Samar and that that police report is still open. I am now going to scan some of those forged documents and submit them with the report in case anything happens in someone's future.

Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...

What I meant to say was that I only RECENTLY went through my books -- started doing that around January 2012. Yes, it took me a long time. One, I never thought anyone could be capable of such nefarious actions, and two, I was too busy trying to stay afloat of all the chaos and had to focus on keeping my restaurant from closing.

It has taken me about five to six years out of my life, but I think I'm now holding my own. Getting my story out is now my priority.

Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...

Dear readers:

STILL no comment on my blog by the Nassar family. However, Adib Nassar is no longer the president nor a member of the LAA.

I'm planning to attend the LAA gala ball again this year.

Anonymous said...

You are so much more tactful than I. If it was me, both of those witches would be dead by now. Sorry but honest...the world really is not a safe place and you just cannot fuck over the wrong person. I've been a part of the belly dance community for approximately eight years, and I have no respect nor tolerance for scanless, low-class gypsies, that behave like shallow, spineless thieves. Were they such losers that they were incapable of obtaining anything honestly in their lives? Did they have no self-esteem? I have met both of them before, and samar behaved like an egotistical snob, blowing me off, when I asked her how long she had been dancing. I mean are her pint-sized, dressing room walls littered with Nobel prizes? Does she really need to over- compensate so badly for her lack of everything? And Gabriella was ALWAYS and will probably ALWAYS be "2nd fiddle" to her largely egoed (and largely sized) sister. I hope Gabriella's chocolate career finds her "largely" sized as well. Back to the story though. Sorry for your numerous and almost unbearable losses. I'm sure you have discovered that the belly dance community, much like all communities, contain the self-serving bitches that will take and backstab and undermine, because they just don't have the self-esteem nor confidence in themselves to fly straight; and then there are the decent dancers that somehow had an example in their lives of an adult that modeled humility, kindness, teamwork, graciousness, honesty, integrity, etc. etc. etc. Obviously this family's values, or lack thereof, are questionable. I don't think they're gonna pony up any of their stolen money to you and may even file a restraining order if the letters or similar appearances continue. Just saying...they have a history of delusionally trying to sue you and whine and snivel to detectives and their parents that you were "hurting" them. Really? What undeserving, pretentious scum they are. As I reflect on this further, I realize that physically disposing of them somewhere up in the hills (there's just so many ways) is not the best retribution. Although...well anyway. THIS...the public humiliation...and the fact that WE ALL KNOW IT'S TRUE AND WE ALL KNOW THEM and furthermore, the embarrassment that I, myself, would feel, knowing that my students, fellow dancers, God knows who, ALL KNOW THAT THE TWO OF YOU HAVE TO STEAL FROM OTHERS?!?! IN ORDER TO HAVE ANYTHING FOR YOURSELVES? You are seriously the biggest losers! I would respect you more if you had nothing or even one or two things than to think I have to watch my stuff around both of you all the time like a bunch of cranksters up all night trying to go through my purse when I'm looking the other way. Do you also embezzle money from your student's credit card numbers when they pay for their "joke" classes that you teach? Do you steal their stuff when they use the bathroom or between classes? I mean do you pilfer everywhere you go, because you're such low-class hustlers? Sausan, the only way these two sociopaths are going to feel any of this is if they incur some sort of financial loss. Otherwise, these types of emphatically-challenged individuals feel nothing for your losses---even if they deviously capitalized on your generosity and trust. Keep blogging and exposing their dirty little secrets. Is it really slander? Defamation of character? Like all criminals, especially, uneducated, inexperienced, and such grossly blatant ones like themselves, YOU WILL SLIP UP, GET CAUGHT OR STEAL FROM THE WRONG PERSON. It is then that the universe will correct this situation and probably painfully. No one respects a thief.

Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...

Still nothing. No respond, no contact.

Anonymous said...

Dear Susan, I am so sorry for all that you have gone through, but I am confused by your decision not to sue these girls in court. I believe that in many situations, the statute of limitations does not start ticking until you discover that you have been harmed. Have you spoken with an attorney about suing these girls? To be honest, your decision to write a blog and raise money online instead of pursuing legal recourse is off-putting to me.

Sausan of the Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance said...

I have. More than once. With more than one attorney. ...and CPAs. Hence my blog. It's the only way I see any retribution. There is a police report on Samar; that's the best I could do -- for now.