Long Island town busted for creating fake grandma to block a mosque backs out of $4M settlement: ‘Taxpayers on the hook’

A ritzy Long Island town that was busted for inventing a “fake grandma” to block a mosque has failed to approve a $4 million court settlement with that would have allowed expansion at the house of worship.

The town of Oyster Bay has broken an agreement with Muslims of Long Island that ended a federal suit and would have greenlighted the Masjid Al-Baqi expansive renovations to its Bethpage facility and paid back $3.95 million in legal fees.

As part of the agreement officials had promised to hold a board meeting where they would approve the settlement within 10 days. But the town abruptly canceled those plans on Thursday night.

“Unfortunately, the settlement has fallen apart as the Town repudiated its own agreement,” Rachel Katz, spokesperson for Linklaters attorneys, who are representing the mosque, told The Post.

Katz said the town never held the promised board meeting, and instead bowed to anti-Muslim agitation from the local community, pointing to a “Stop the Mosque” petition that drew nearly 2,000 signatures and was laced with “racist” commentary, according to court filings.

“We believed the Town when it signed the settlement, and we are devastated that the Town leaders gave in to hate instead of honoring their word,” said Imran Makda, a worshipper at the mosque and a plaintiff in the case.

“All we want is the chance to worship in peace, like every other faith community in this country,” Makda said.

The town, however, said that anti-Muslim sentiments had no bearing on their decision to back out of the already-signed deal.

“Upon further analysis and legal guidance, the Town Board has chosen to defend its zoning authority and withdraw from the proposed settlement agreement,” Town Attorney Frank Scalera said.

Prior to backing out, Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino had told The Post “this agreement resolves outstanding planning concerns and allows us to move forward in good faith as one community.”

But now, Oyster Bay is back to insisting that the mosque is a traffic hazard, pointing to more than 4,700 red-light violations near the house of worship and “high accident rates at the intersection each year.”

However, despite claims of frequent car crashes, officials in court were unable to point to a single accident ever caused by the mosque or the supposed traffic it creates — except for one — during a site inspection earlier this year, when the town’s own public safety inspector rear-ended a woman outside the house of worship.

Under oath in July, town officials even confessed that they submitted the written testimony of a traffic-jammed grandmother, her SUV, and her grandkids she couldn’t pick up due to the congestion created by the mosque — that don’t actually exist.

At first, officials conceded in court that the grandma is “an amalgam” of other resident’s submissions, none of which ever mentioned any grandmother, grandchildren, SUVs, or even daycare drop-offs.

But after catching heat for the admission, officials later denied fabricating a grandmother to The Post — despite their sworn testimony under oath in court documents telling a different story.

Taxpayers will now be on the hook for possibly millions of dollars more now that the town has reignited the battle, according to Muhammad Faridi, an attorney representing MOLI.

“By walking away from a signed settlement, Town officials have all but guaranteed that their insurers will deny coverage,” Faridi said.

“That means it won’t be the insurers paying for this discrimination, it will be the taxpayers of Oyster Bay, who now stand to pay millions more so that elected officials can protect their own political futures.”

Attorneys for the mosque have asked a federal judge to keep the original October 27 trial date, declaring it’s now the “only path forward.”

“The Town signed an agreement that was filed in federal court,” Faridi said.

“The law does not permit elected officials to cave to prejudice, and neither will this Court — the trial will go forward,” he added.