The Book Wasn't the Only Lie

By Rachelle Bowden in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 23, 2004 11:42AM

Remember when Norma Khouri was caught lying her book, Honor Lost? She claimed that the book was a true story of a 1996 "honor killing" of a Muslim woman who she grew up with in Jordan. But the Sydney Morning Herald exposed that although she was born in Jordan, she moved to Chicago when she was 3 and was raised there. Well, now people are just lining up to sue her. It turns out that the book wasn't the only shady thing Khouri was involved in.

Khouri swindled an elderly, widowed woman on Chicago's Southwest Side, a neighbor of her mother's, out of about a half of a million dollars. In 1999, when Cook County officials became aware of the incident, Khouri, then known as Norma Toliopoulos, left the country. Khouri has also been accused of taking $40k from a man who claims he was her lover and of defaulting on a series of mortgages.

Lawyers were unable to find Khouri to serve her legal papers until the Sydney Herald reported the lies in her book. Khouri then spoke out saying that she returned to the US to gather evidence to prove her book story was true. Authorities now believe she is in Chicago and are trying to contact her for questioning. Be on the lookout!

And if you want the book, go to Amazon, where it is on sale, bargain priced for $5.99.