Hashimi, Mohammad David, et al. v. USA
Brooklyn, NY

ISIS

[EDNY] A criminal complaint unsealed December 14, 2022, in Brooklyn federal court charged Mohammad David Hashimi, Abdullah At Taqi, Khalilullah Yousuf, and Seema Rahman with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham ("ISIS").

Hashimi and Yousuf were members of a group chat on an encrypted social media and mobile messaging electronic communication service that facilitated communication between and among supporters of ISIS and other groups that adhered to violent jihadist ideologies. They discussed posting donation links that purported to be for humanitarian causes but were in fact intended to help ISIS fighters. Yousuf provided a link to a specific Bitcoin address and another member of the group chat posted a link to a PayPal campaign, both of which were controlled by an individual identified in the complaint as "Facilitator-1."

"Facilitator-1" told a government confidential source that the charitable descriptions in the fundraising campaigns were in fact a "deception for the infidels" and the "words that are in the link are fake in order to deceive." When the confidential source asked "Facilitator-1" for proof that the money being donated was going to support ISIS, "Facilitator-1" sent the confidential source screenshots and a video depicting tactical gear, ammunition, and grenades on top of an ISIS flag.

Between February 2021 and July 2022, the defendants raised and contributed more than $35,000 to "Facilitator-1" via a combination of cryptocurrency and other sources. Hashimi has also made statements suggesting his desire to die in combat or in a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS.