January 6, 2018

KUWAIT: Criminal Court Charged 6 People For Funding The Islamic State Terrorist Organization Using A Charity To Collect Money And Launder It.

Kuwait Times
written by Staff
December 14, 2017

KUWAIT - The criminal court ordered the continued detention of six expats (5 Syrians and an Iraqi) over charges of funding the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria with around KD 11 million ($36 million) they collected as charity in Kuwait. Informed resources explained that the suspects had been using a money exchanger in Mubarakiya to pass the sums to IS without using any electronic databases or records of the remittances they made. Instead, the suspects used special letters and codes to avoid identifying the senders. The sources also said that the suspects used to send money to terrorists in Syria and Turkey via a GCC state where they owned another money exchange office. The suspects are facing charges of joining a terrorist organization, funding it and money laundering.
BONUS related article below because why not:

DW
written by Staff, Reuters and AP
July 27, 2016

The arrests have marked the first time authorities discover concrete evidence of the group's finance networks in Europe. In Morocco, police have detained over 50 people for trying to establish a province for the group.

Spanish police on Wednesday arrested two Moroccan brothers, aged 33 and 22, in the northeastern city of Girona for helping finance the "Islamic State" (IS) militant group's operations in Syria and Iraq, Spain's interior ministry said in a statement.

Police discovered a large amount of cash and telecommunications data at the brothers' home. The information is expected to assist authorities in exposing the militant group's presence in Europe, police said.

"Investigators found that the two suspects, along with their brother who died in Syria, managed to send funds to financial administrators of the "Islamic State" using false identities attributed to the terrorist organization's managers," the Interior Ministry said.

"These suspected identities form part of the "Islamic State's" economic recruitment center at the international level, as evidenced by international contacts identified in the investigation," the ministry added.

Spanish authorities said the investigation marked the first time concrete evidence of European money transfers to IS, adding that the arrests will help neutralize one part of the group's financial support on the continent.
At least 30 people have been arrested in Spain this year over suspected links to Islamist militant groups, including IS, the ministry noted.

Following a series of attacks in Europe claimed by IS, Spain has raised its terrorism alert to its second-highest level.

In 2004, a local cell supportive of al-Qaeda set off bombs targeting trains in Madrid, killing nearly 200 people and injuring thousands more.

Meanwhile, Moroccan authorities arrested 52 suspected accused of planning to set up a branch of IS in the North African country.

The arrests foiled "terrorist plots at a very advanced stage of preparation on prisons, security establishments, festivals and leisure centers in several cities of Morocco, apart from assassinations of security officials, soldiers and tourists," the Moroccan interior ministry said.
ANOTHER BONUS
The Washington Free Beacon
written by Katelyn Caralle
December 15, 2017

A Long Island woman has been accused of bank fraud and laundering more than $85,000 worth of Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies to support the Islamic State.

The Department of Justice said on Thursday that the 27-year-old woman, Zoobia Shahnaz, is being charged with bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and three counts of money laundering, ABC News reported.

"The defendant defrauded numerous financial institutions and obtained over $85,000 in illicit proceeds, which she converted to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies," the Department of Justice explained in a statement about the unsealed five-count federal court indictment.

"She then laundered and transferred the funds out of the country to support the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)," the statement continued. "After consummating the scheme, the defendant attempted to leave the United States and travel to Syria. Shahnaz, a U.S. citizen, was arrested yesterday."

According to the court record, Shahnaz worked as a lab technician in a hospital in Manhattan up until June 2017, and around June 2016 she volunteered in Jordan with the Syrian American Medical Society.

As part of her volunteer work, she was working in a refugee camp where the prosecutors said "ISIS exercises significant influence."

Shahnaz's attorney, Steve Zissou, said she never attempted to help ISIS and only wanted to help the Syrian refugees she had come across while volunteering.

"Whatever she did was for humanitarian purposes only," Zissou said.

Yet prosecutors claim Shahnaz fraudulently obtained six credit cards and a loan from a Manhattan bank, which she then used to procure $85,000 to convert to cryptocurrencies in order to transfer the funds overseas and provide financial support to ISIS. Agents have accused the Long Island resident of providing conflicting explanations about the wire transfers.

Shahnaz was suspected of foul play while attempting to board a suspicious flight at JFK airport in New York City on July 31. She was questioned by law enforcement officials at the airport while attempting to board a flight to Pakistan with a layover in Turkey. Her return flight was booked for Sept. 4 from Istanbul, Turkey back to JFK.

Prosecutors pointed out that ISIS recommends those who wish to travel and join ISIS buy round trip tickets because it appears less suspicious.

She is being held without bail, pending trial. Her next court date is Jan. 5.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 1:32 AM

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