WASHINGTON — Florida’s self-proclaimed “King of Vape” is in the hot seat as lawmakers and officials try to throttle business linked to his family’s alleged sale of kid-friendly e-cigarettes manufactured in China.

Taher Shriteh — who was found by an Israeli court in the 1990s to have been aiding Hamas while working as a journalist in the Gaza Strip — is the owner of Orange Wholesale, LLC, in Port Charlotte, Fla.

It’s one of several corporate entities he operates at that location and is the owner of “The King of Vape” trademark, according to state and federal records.

Safa Goods, one of the largest vape distributors in the US, which is run by his son Haitham and nephew Ahmed Shriteh, was founded at the same Port Charlotte address in 2018 but has since changed locations, Florida Division of Corporations records show.

All three Shritehs recently appeared in Florida federal court filings over a trademark dispute involving their respective businesses’ sale of e-cigs made in China.

Those 2022-2023 filings note that Orange Wholesale was at the time considered an “affiliate” of Safa, and both complied with a preliminary injunction to halt distribution of ELF-branded vapes manufactured by Shenzhen Weiboli Technology Co. Ltd. in China.

The case ended in a settlement with ELF’s trademark owner VPR BRANDS, LP.

But Safa still sells Chinese-produced, popular brands — including enticing flavors like the “Graham Twist” Raz disposable vapes — in more than a dozen “King of Vape” retail stores along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Safa and the other distributors have also been peddling vapes with delectable names like “Strawberry Donut” and “Iced Watermelon,” which authorities claim can hook younger users.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, an elected Democrat, sued Safa last month for “illegal and fraudulent business practices” that “targeted underage users.”

The vape company is listed as a US partner of the e-cigarette brand GeekVape, which has its headquarters and production facilities in Shenzhen, China, the complaint filed Feb. 20 in federal court states.

A pre-trial conference is currently scheduled for April 23 in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Former Florida attorney general Ashley Moody, now a US senator, announced last week that she’s also coming for the illegal flavored products during a hearing with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director-designate Marty Makary.

“As a mom and former Florida AG, protecting our children from illicit vapes is a top priority of mine,” Moody said.

“These things are all over the United States, in convenience stores. They’re readily available to children. If you walked in any one [convenience store] right now, you would be able to find them.”

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Sunshine State legislature have also been cracking down on some of the kid-friendly products, in addition to the FDA.

The state led the country in illicit vape sales in 2023, according to data from the Florida Retail Foundation lobbying group.

Before Shriteh became a purveyor of products in smoke-filled rooms, he was a freelance reporter in Gaza who contributed to outlets like Reuters and the New York Times.

In February 1991, however, an Israeli judge initially denied bail, finding that Shriteh “crossed the line in his work as a journalist” and “became an activist for a terror organization” by reporting out information from a Hamas leaflet to readers, the Times reported at the time.

Shriteh argued he was only engaging in routine journalism, and was eventually released without charges.

Some of Shriteh’s other scribblings were compiled in the 2003 book “Beyond Intifada: Narratives of Freedom Fighters in the Gaza Strip,” which covered the violent uprising of Palestinians against Israel beginning in 1987.

Ahmed Shriteh, who serves as a director of Safa, previously worked at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) — an organization to which the US halted all funding after it was revealed several of its employees helped Hamas carry out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people.

A rep for Taher Shriteh said Ahmed Shriteh’s involvement with UNRWA concluded in 2012, and he has no relationship with Hamas.

Another for-profit corporation that Taher and Ahmed run as president and vice president, respectively — US TMC, Inc. — has been owned by a parent corporation located in Gaza since 2000, according to Florida state records.

Four days after publication, Shriteh filed articles of dissolution for US TMC, Inc.

A rep for Taher Shriteh said that he “does not own, manage, or have any legal affiliation with Safa Goods” and stressed the vape seller is “a U.S. citizen with no criminal record and no ties — past or present — to any extremist organization.”

“He is a respected former journalist and business owner whose retail stores operate within lawful age restrictions,” the rep added.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Shriteh cofounded Safa.