A Maryland man, Mohamed Elshinawy, was arrested on Friday and has been charged with providing material support to ISIS. Elshinawy had received money for "operational purpose" in the United States. He is also accused of lying to the FBI.
The Justice Department disclosed Monday that Mohamed Elshinawy, 30, of Edgewood, Maryland, was arrested on Friday and charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization.
"Mohamed Elshinawy received money he believed was provided by ISIL in order to conduct an attack on U.S. soil," said assistant attorney general John Carlin, using the term the federal government employs to refer to ISIS. "When confronted by the FBI, he lied in order to conceal his support for ISIL and the steps he took to provide material support to the deadly foreign terrorist organization."
According to court documents, the FBI discovered in June that a person in Egypt was trying to send money to the U.S. for potentially criminal purposes. Investigators say that person began sending money to Elsinaway on June 28. In all, prosecutors say, he received at least $8,700 from sources he believed were associated with ISIS.
Elsinaway claims that he was just trying to get money from ISIS and was not planning an attack, although his brother informed the FBI in May that Elsinaway expressed a desire to be a martyr for ISIS.
Scary. Good job by the FBI to catch this man before anything tragic happened. Also, major kudos to the brother for speaking up--it can't be easy to turn in your own family members, but his actions could have saved lives.