NJ city admits falling for 'sister city' scam after holding ceremony for fake country

NEWARK, N.J. (TND) — The city of Newark, New Jersey has reportedly admitted it was scammed into becoming a "Sister City" with a fake Hindu nation.

Mayor Ras Baraka invited representatives of "Kailasa" to Newark's City Hall for a "cultural trade agreement," according to CBS New York, but "Kailasa" isn't a real country.

What started off as a seemingly well-intentioned partnership has turned into a giant embarrassment for the city of Newark," Bauman says in her report. "Earlier this year, Mayor Ras Baraka invited what he thought was the Hindu nation of Kailasa to Newark City Hall for a cultural trade agreement, but it turns out Kailasa is no nation at all, it's a fake."

"Kailasa" is reportedly the fabrication of a notorious scam artist and fugitive from India who is calledSwami Nithyananda. CBS News reports thatNithyananda has "been on the run from rape charges since 2019."

Baraka and Newark apparently were not aware of"Kailasa's" inauthenticity until the New Jersey city had already held an official ceremony. Footage shows city officials signing documents and taking photographs during the ceremony to become a "Sister City" with"Kailasa."

Although this was a regrettable incident, the city of Newark remains committed to partnering with people from diverse cultures in order to enrich each other with connectivity, support, and mutual respect," Newark City Hall said in a statement, according to CBS News.

Just days after signing the "Sister City" agreement papers, the Newark City Council reportedly rescinded the agreement. One city councilmember called the incident "an oversight" that "cannot happen any longer," according to CBS News.

Many of the Newark residents interviewed by Ali Bauman were shocked by the news, with one calling it "very embarrassing" and another saying they "truly don't even have words for it."

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,"Shakee Merritt, a Newark resident, told Bauman.

As news of the scam spread across the United States, even high-profile celebrities joined in on the mockery.

New Jersey native actor Kal Penntook a moment while hosting Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" to "check in on my home state of New Jersey," adding that "I’m sure they’re not doing anything incredibly stupid."

Jesus, Newark,” Penn said on The Daily Show. “How can an entire city get catfished? Not a single person realized they never heard of this country before? If you can’t find it as a cuisine on Grubhub, it’s not a real country."

There must have been so many red flags,” Penn added. “The biggest one being that anyone wanted to be sister cities with Newark."

Fox News host Jessie Watters dove into the scam during a segment on his network, saying that "Newark thought Kailasa was a Hindu nation just off the coast of Ecuador."

No one in the entire Newark government thought to themselves, 'There's a Hindu island off the coast of South America?'" Watters asked.

No one at the city council in Newark thought, 'Hey, I've never heard of this country. What's their food like? What's their clothing look like? Are there beaches or rainforests in Kailasa? Let me just do a Google search before we get these guys into a room and make them our sister city,'" Watters added. "No — instead, they ran with it. Not only did they get duped, but they got duped by a self-proclaimed fake kind of Kailasa, a serial rapist."

"Kailasa" does have a detailed website and, according to the India Times, the fake nation has been attempting to legitimize itself by dealing with various diplomats across the world.

The fake country was reportedly "founded" by the fugitiveSwami Nithyananda, and claims to be off the coast of Ecuador afterNithyananda purchased an island from the nation, but Ecuadorian officials have denied this.

Newark City Hall has insisted no money was exchanged in the "Sister City" deal, according to CBS News. Newark city officials reportedly told CBS News that, based upon the revelation of the deception, the official ceremony is now "groundless and void."