We keep being told that everyone is coming here from the Third World to get their peace of the ‘American Dream’. But the trouble is that different cultures define their dreams differently. Mohammed Atta was following his dream. So are the guys throwing Molotov cocktails at police cars. And Ali Shahid Butt was following his own ‘American Dream’.
There’s even a news story about it from back in 2016.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen multi-unit franchisee Ali Shahid Butt learned long ago that success in business depends on other people. “Team work makes the dream work,” says Butt, president of AR Group of Restaurants, which operates 25 Popeyes restaurants in 5 states.
Butt and his wife, Arian Rahmani, received the MVP American Dream Award for achieving remarkable success in the United States. Born in Pakistan, he journeyed to the U.S. in 1992, “based on the desire for achievement and success,” he says.
“I don’t think I have reached the American Dream yet, but I am happy with what I have achieved. I remember I was opening my Olden Avenue store and there were lots of hurdles. I remember sitting on the curb across the street wondering if this store would ever open. In the end, everything worked out and when that store opened, I had a feeling of achieving the American Dream.”
Here’s the sequel to Butt’s ‘American Dream’.
A New Jersey man who owns fast-food restaurants in multiple states pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to conspiring to commit tax fraud.
As part of his plea, Ali Shahid Butt, 56, of Princeton Junction, New Jersey, has agreed to pay more than $2.4 million in restitution to the IRS.
With Butt’s knowledge, his franchise co-owners and managers paid certain employees in cash and did not report or pay over tax withholdings for those employees. In many cases, these employees were paid in cash because they were illegal aliens without work authorization.
The third world American Dream is the American Nightmare.
