Washington gate-crashers inhabit a society that knows how to open doors

Reporting from Washington — 

The latest turn in the saga of gate-crashers at a state dinner offers a tour of a Washington social universe in which everyone is an entrepreneur, every party is for a good cause, every photo ends up online, and knowing the right names can get you almost anywhere -- even into the White House.

It’s the world inhabited by both Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the Virginia couple made famous for slipping into the dinner without an invitation, and Carlos Allen, an enterprising party promoter now believed to have done the same.

A U.S. official confirmed Tuesday that Allen is the man described by the Secret Service as a third uninvited guest at the November gala for the Indian prime minister, the Obama White House’s first state dinner. The official was not authorized to speak about the matter and asked not to be named.

A Secret Service statement released Monday said Allen got into the party by tagging along with members of an Indian delegation being shepherded to the dinner by the State Department. Allen is believed to have joined up with the group at a Washington hotel, been checked for weapons there, and then traveled to the White House, along with representatives of the State Department.

Allen and his attorney, A. Scott Bolden, did not return calls seeking comment. Bolden told the Washington Post that Allen believed he was invited to the dinner.

But the Secret Service said that because Allen was never invited, his name was never entered into the system that runs background checks on White House visitors. It said changes have been made in the way such foreign delegations are handled.

“The finger is properly pointed in our direction,” said a State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Allen is a self-described meeting planner, online magazine publisher and philanthropist, according to websites for his various business ventures. He runs a social club out of a Washington brownstone in a residential neighborhood and an online magazine that tracks social events around town. His group of enterprises operates its own version of Facebook.

All are billed under the name Hush, an acronym for Help Us Support Humanity.

“Our aspiration is to draw from the elite and up & coming individuals, in order to mingle, make contacts, learn and have fun at the same time with the goal of supporting and creating strong community, local and national leaders,” Allen wrote on the magazine’s separate Facebook page.

The Salahis were counted among the elite and up and coming. The couple appear to have social ties to Allen and his endeavors.

Hush Society Magazine covered the Land Rover America’s Polo Cup, a charity polo match organized by the Salahis that is now under investigation by Virginia authorities for its accounting practices. Sharmila Viswasam, public relations director for Hush Group Inc., attended the match at the invitation of the Salahis, though she does not know them personally, she said Tuesday.

Michaele Salahi was photographed with Allen at a party apparently organized by Paul Gardner, the Baltimore entertainment lawyer who represented the Salahis when their White House exploits came to light. The website for Allen’s social club, Hush Galleria, posted the picture along with several others labeled “Paul Gardner’s Beyonce After Party Event.”

Marcus Dijon, the photographer who took the photo and attended parties with Allen last summer, said the event was an informal gathering at a Washington restaurant. It was rumored that pop star Beyonce would show up after performing that night. She didn’t, but other music industry types did, he said.

“That was what he did. That was sort of his thing, to get his picture taken with famous or semi-famous people,” Dijon said of Allen. “He’s a master networker. He finds out where things are happening and he gets in.”

Viswasam, the Hush public relations director, described Allen as well connected and well intentioned.

“Carlos is a great guy. I believe in his vision. He is all about doing just what he says, giving back,” she said. “We party for a cause.”

That’s a claim being made more and more on Washington’s social scene, said Michelle Morant, founder of the Citizen Du Monde, an online D.C. night life tip sheet. With the arrival of a new administration, large numbers of young and ambitious partygoers are trying to navigate the social terrain. If you can’t find a job, you become the chief executive of your own business, she said. If you need to network, charity parties have an air of respectability.

Viswasam said some of the money raised by Hush-sponsored parties goes to its own charity, the Most Valuable Pupil program, which honors an exceptional student, according to the Hush website. Other fliers for Hush-sponsored parties don’t name specific charities that benefit from the events.

khennessey@tribune.com

Times staff writer Paul Richter contributed to this report.