The anti-Muslim film which sparked violence in Libya and Cairo has ignited a search for those behind the provocative film. The investigation led to a Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production. "Innocence of Muslims" mocked Muslims and the prophet Mohammed and may have caused inflamed mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya, and resulted in the death of American, Sean Smith.
Nakoula denied posing as Sam Bacile, even though the AP traced the address to the same location where they found the 55-year-old. Federal court papers said Nakoula's aliases included Nicola Bacily, Erwin Salameh, and others. During a conversation outside of his home, Nakoula offered up his driver's license to the AP to show his identity, but kept his thumb over his middle name, Basseley. The name matched connections to the Bacile persona. With the tragedies of Egypt and Libya fresh in the national consciousness, this admittance comes at an inopportune time, as Mitt Romney has tried to use the incident for political gain against President Obama.
