Bangladesh, Nov. 27 -- American politics has always had its share of improbable characters slipping into positions of influence, but few stories reveal a deeper and more troubling network than the quiet rise of Sophia Farooq and her connections to a global financial and ideological machine. At the center of that network stands Muhammad Yunus—celebrated internationally as a microfinance pioneer, yet increasingly enmeshed in political maneuvering that spans continents, extremist ideologies, and covert influence operations. What emerges is not a tale of benign philanthropy but a portrait of calculated ambition layered beneath decades of cultivated global prestige.

To trace this web, start not in Washington or Dhaka but in an unlikely ...