City of Newark falls for Sister City scam: "Whose job was it to do a simple Google search?

quote:

---

NEWARK, N.J. -- The city of Newark is admitting it got scammed.

It was about to become a Sister City with a Hindu nation, but there was one problem -- the nation doesn't exist.

As CBS2's Ali Bauman reports, the city only found out about the fraud after it held an official ceremony for it.

What started off as a seemingly well-intentioned partnership has turned into a giant embarrassment for the city of Newark.

Earlier this year, Mayor Ras Baraka invited what he thought was the Hindu nation of Kailasa to Newark's City Hall for a cultural trade agreement, but it turns out Kailasa is no nation at all; it's a fake.

Though it has a detailed website, "Kailasa" has no real government. It's the brainchild of Swami Nithyananda, a notorious scam artist and fugitive from India who has been on the run from rape charges since 2019.

"Whose job was it to do a simple Google search? No one in City Hall, not one person did a Google search, so maybe we need a transformation of City Hall 'cause not one person said, let me go and Google and figure out this was a fake city," Newark resident Shakee Merritt said.

---