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The Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) was founded by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, whom the US Treasury Department identified as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist", citing his "long history of working with bin Laden" (and whose name also appears on the UN 1267 Committee's list of individuals belonging to or associated with Al-Qaida).
During a terrorism trial, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Brian Murphy testified that CSSW was a “front organization to funnel money to terrorists,” and US federal prosecutors have described it as being used to support Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
In 1998 and 1999 in San Diego, Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki served as Vice President for CSSW. Al-Awlaki would later be suspected of radicalizing Major Nidal Hasan before his 2009 attack on Fort Hood, and reportedly blessed and participated in planning and training for the Al-Qaeda sponsored attempt to blow up an airliner Christmas Day 2009 in Detroit.
In July 2004 Numan Maflahi, a Yemeni-born U.S. citizen, was sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison for lying to FBI agents about his ties to a Yemeni sheik who prosecutors say raised money for al-Qaida through CSSW . He told agents that he had limited contact with Sheik Abdullah Satar and no involvement in Satar’s fund raising for al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. But prosecutors said Maflahi “spent almost every waking hour” with Satar during a 1999 trip to New York, arranging his speaking engagements at mosques, driving him to appointments, and helping collect and hold money. After Satar left Brooklyn, he continued raising money in Italy, where he met with Al Qaeda's top operative in that country, according to court papers. “The proof here is overwhelming that the defendant was lying about facts relevant to the investigation of a federal crime of terrorism,” U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon said.