New details about the mysterious creator of "Innocence of Muslims," the YouTube film trailer that's contributing to protests across the Middle East, are emerging on Thursday.
[More from Mashable: ‘Innocence of Muslims’ YouTube Video Spurs Protests Across Mideast]
Initial reports pegged the filmmaker as "Sam Bacile," a supposedly Israeli-American real estate developer living in California. However, certain details didn't add up: There's no licensed real estate developer in California with that name and Israeli officials denied his existence.
Add to that the shoddy quality of the video and the actors involved in its production claiming to have been duped into making a film far removed from the original script, and it's a recipe for an odd story indeed.
[More from Mashable: The Strange Details of the YouTube Clip Sparking Mideast Protests]
On Wednesday afternoon, reporters from the Associated Press tracked down Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a man who claimed to have a minor role in the film's production. The AP suggested that Nakoula was the real person hiding behind the "Sam Bacile" alias -- note the similar middle and last names, for example -- but he didn't admit the ruse.
Thursday, a law enforcement officer speaking on background seems to have unmasked the filmmaker, telling the AP that Nakoula is indeed "Sam Bacile" and was the primary force responsible for the film.
So, what do we know about Nakoula?
According to the AP, he's a 55-year-old Coptic Christian who has "supported the concerns of Christian Copts," a minority group in Egypt that's the target of persecution in the country.
He also apparently has a political agenda: one actress in the film, originally titled Desert Warriors, said that the original script wasn't offensive to Islam and suggested it was edited in post-production. When she complained to Sam Bacile/Nakoula, he reportedly told her to "tell the world that it wasn’t you that did it, it was me, the one who wrote the script, because I’m tired of the radical Muslims running around killing everyone."
Additionally, Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal charges of bank fraud, and paid $790,000 in fines alongside a 21-month jail sentence. On top of that, he was barred from use of computers or the Internet for five years without first asking permission from a probation officer.
The details of Nakoula's crime? An assistant U.S. attorney told the AP that Nakoula started fake bank accounts with stolen personal identification, then deposited checks from those accounts into other ersatz accounts from which he would take money via ATMs.
Before the federal charges against him, Nakoula had previously struggled with his personal finances -- he's had separate tax liens of $191,000 and $106,000 filed against him in two California counties.
Beyond that, details about Nakoula and his intentions remain scant. Meanwhile, the video continues to contribute to protests at American diplomatic posts in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere. It was also originally blamed for a deadly attack on the American consolate in Benghazi, Libya, but the State Department now believes that incident to have been pre-planned.
YouTube has since blocked the footage in Egypt and Libya, and some countries have taken steps to ban YouTube entirely.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, jcarillet
This story originally published on Mashable here.