The Real Man Behind The Anti-Islam Movie "The Innocence of Muslims"?

"Sam Bacile" writer/director of the tasteless, cheesy  anti-Islam movie "The Innocence of Muslims" that spawned the violence in Egypt, Libya and now Yemen, is more than likely 55-year-old Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian Christian Copt living in Southern California. Although he claims he merely "provided logistics" for the movie initially called 'Desert Warriors', and that he's not the "Israeli/Jewish" director "Sam Bacile", it's more than likely he's fibbing. Apparently, the cellphone the AP dialed for an interview with Sam Bacile was traced back to Nakoula's address. Oops.

It also turns out that Nakoula has been a very bad boy, aside from producing a piece of crap film that has set the Middle East ablaze, not that it takes much to do that. In 2010, Nakoula pleaded no contest to federal bank fraud charges. He had to pay back over $790,000, and was sentenced to 21 months in jail. Prosecutor Jennifer Leigh Williams said Nakoula had a major "check-kiting scheme" going on, which he managed by using stolen identities and Social Security numbers.

 "You try to get the money out of the bank before the bank realizes they are drawn from a fraudulent account. There basically is no money."

Nakoula is obviously of questionable character, so I suppose it's not surprising that he had the brazen gall to claim he (as Bacile) was an Israeli Jew.  Since Coptic Christians are terribly persecuted in Egypt, I can understand the need to keep his identity under wraps, but to identify himself as another religion, particularly one that is so vilified in that region, is unconscionable.  In fact, protesters in Yemen were calling for "Death to America", and "Death to Israel" thanks to Nakoula.

More evidence that indicates a Coptic/Christian connection, not an Israeli one, is the fact that the film consultant Steve Klein,  a Christian, has been involved with the Copts for years.  Jim Horn, another activist working with Coptic groups said about Klein:

"He's been helping them to stand up for themselves against Islamic terror in Egypt. That's what he does."

Then you have wacko evangelical Christian Florida Pastor Terry Jones, who has promoted the video, and  Morris Sadek- another Christian Copt, posted the 13-minute trailer on his Facebook page a week a week or so ago.

It's all still much of a mystery, including why the video was only promoted right before 9/11 of this year, when the movie was filmed last summer.  More of the truth will eventually be revealed.

Sources: Yahoo, GuardianUK

UPDATE: According to the Daily Beast, Nakoula was also meth manufacturer (spending a year in jail for that back in 1997), and a registered Democrat from 2002 to 2008. He then switched to American Independent.