39 Count Indicment Includes Charges for Supporting Terror

A federal grand jury indicted 39 defendants in an international money laundering case that includes one person accused of concealing terrorist financing, the U.S. attorney's office announced Thursday.^[1]

The four-year undercover investigation targeted defendants in the United States, Belgium, Canada and Spain, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said.^[2] In the U.S. the raids related to the case were conducted at two gas station convenience stores and a home in Snow Hill, on Maryland's Eastern Shore.^[3]

The investigation resulted in charges of money laundering, conspiracy to bribe a public official, and operating unlicensed money transmission businesses. Cooperating witnesses involved in the investigation posed as drug smugglers, cigarette smugglers and other criminals, including a terrorist who wanted to send money to al-Qaida.^[4] The undercover witnesses asked the defendants to help transfer money and once completed the authorites were alerted as to the transactions.^[5]

Providing material support to terrorists is covered under 18 U.S.C. § 2339A, wherein it states that whoever provides material support or resources or conceals or disguises the nature, location, source, or ownership of material support or resources, knowing or intending that they are to be used in preparation for, or in carrying out, a violation of section 32, 37, 81, 175, 229, 351, 831, 842 (m) or (n), 844 (f) or (i), 930(c), 956, 1114, 1116, 1203, 1361, 1362, 1363, 1366, 1751, 1992, 1993, 2155, 2156, 2280, 2281, 2332, 2332a, 2332b, 2332f, or 2340A of this title [18 U.S.C.S § 32, 37, 81, 175, 229, 351, 831, 842 (m) or (n), 844 (f) or (i), 930(c), 956, 1114, 1116, 1203, 1361, 1362, 1363, 1366, 1751, 1992, 1993, 2155, 2156, 2280, 2281, 2332, 2332a, 2332b, 2332f, or 2340A ], section 236 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2284), or section 46502 or 60123(b) of title 49, or in preparation for, or in carrying out, the concealment of an escape from the commission of any such violation, or attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life.^[6]

A violation of this section may be prosecuted in any Federal judicial district in which the underlying offense was committed, or in any other Federal judicial district as provided by law.^[7]

Section 2339A (b) defines the term "material support or resources" as something that is currency or a monetary instrument or financial security, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel, transportation, and other physical assets, except medicine or religious materials.^[8]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has discussed the terrorism crime of providing support to terrorists extensively in this blog; these posts can be accessed here.

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^[1] AP Staff, Terror ties alleged in money-laundering case; 39 indicted, Associated Press Newswire, September 21, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id. Those transfers were between Maryland, New York, Spain and Australia using an informal system known as hawala, according to court documents. One, in Barcelona, involved a transfer equivalent to more than $450,000.
^[6] 18 U.S.C. § 2339A(a)(2007).
^[7] Id., at § 2339A
^[8] Id., at § 2339A(b)