Crypto Path Lands Virginia Man 30-12 months Sentence for Funding ISIS – Decrypt

A Virginia man who funneled crypto to a militant group by way of encrypted chats and hand-collected donations was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal jail for supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a U.S.-designated overseas terrorist group.

Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa was convicted final December on 5 felony counts, together with conspiracy and a number of makes an attempt to supply materials assist to ISIS.

Between 2019 and 2022, Chhipa raised greater than $185,000 by social media platforms, encrypted communications, and in-person collections, then transformed the funds to crypto and routed them to Syria by way of Turkey, in accordance with a U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) assertion.

A lot of the funds have been directed to feminine ISIS members in detention camps, with the aim of financing jail escapes and supporting fighters embedded throughout Syria, the company stated.

“This defendant immediately financed ISIS in its efforts to commit vile terrorist atrocities in opposition to harmless residents,” stated Lawyer Common Pamela Bondi. “This sentence sends a transparent message: in the event you fund terrorism, we are going to discover you.”

Chhipa’s main co-conspirator was a British-born ISIS member residing in Syria, who coordinated monetary transfers supposed for tactical assist and militant recruitment.

The pair leveraged crypto as a cross-border device for obfuscating transactions that may in any other case set off banking flags, in accordance with the Justice Division’s December trial assertion.

The FBI Washington Area Workplace led the Chhipa investigation, with assist from the DOJ’s Nationwide Safety Division. His main co-conspirator stays at massive in Syria.

“Whether or not you’re a fighter or ship cash, these actions are unlawful and in opposition to the nationwide safety pursuits of the US,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel.

Chhipa’s case follows a broader DOJ marketing campaign that started gaining steam in 2020, when U.S. authorities introduced the single-largest seizure of terrorism-linked crypto thus far.

The hassle focused digital wallets utilized by ISIS, Hamas’s army wing, and al-Qaeda operatives, a lot of whom promoted Bitcoin donations on social media as “untraceable” and supposed for “violent causes.”

Greater than 300 crypto accounts, 4 web sites, and 4 Fb pages have been dismantled in that operation.

“Terrorist networks have tailored to know-how, conducting complicated monetary transactions within the digital world,” then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated on the time.

In March, the Justice Division seized greater than $200,000 in crypto linked to Hamas, describing the community as one which had laundered over $1.5 million since late 2024 by a collection of wallets and encrypted channels.