Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari Asserts that He Was Not Trying to Support Terror, Just Himself

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari has been accused of trying to funnel money to a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan told a judge his dealings with an undercover operative were to enrich himself, not to help the enemy.^[1]

Alishtari is charged with accepting an unspecified amount of money to transfer $152,000 that he believed was being sent to Pakistan and Afghanistan to support the camp.^[2] He has fervently pleaded not guilty in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to charges of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and money laundering.^[3] The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.^[4]

Recordings secretly made by federal agents show that Alishtari "was interested more in the profit potential of the undercover's supposed money backers and himself than he was to their 'cause,'" his lawyers wrote in a letter this week to the judge.^[5]

Alishtari was allegedly hoping the undercover agent, who passed himself off as a wealthy Middle Easterner, would invest in Flat Electronic Data Interchange, a loan investment program he was running; federal prosecutors have called it a fraud.^[6]

Contributing or supplying services to designated terrorist groups (or conspiring to contribute or supply services to these entities), is a violation of regulations issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act,^[7] we have previously discussed IEEPA in this blog, here.

Providing material support to a terrorist organization is covered under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B underwhich it states that it is a crime to knowingly provide, attempt to provide, or conspirer to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization. The penalty for this is a fine or imprisonment for not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisonment for any term of years or for life.^[8]

“Material support” is defined as any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who may be or include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or religious materials.^[9]

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. He has also written extensively on terrorist financing.

---

^[1] AP Staff, Man Says He Didn't Try to Fund Terrorism, Associated Press Newswire, January 4, 2008, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701-07 (2007).
^[8] 18 U.S.C. § 2339B (2007).
^[9] 18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(1)(2005).