Source: Office of United States Attorneys
A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Mansuri Manuchekhri with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and to the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), possessing firearms while unlawfully in the United States and immigration fraud. Manuchekhri was arrested today and made his initial appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy who ordered the defendant detained.
John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, James E. Dennehy, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) and Jessica S. Tisch, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the arrest and charges.
“As alleged, the defendant, who was in the United States illegally, not only facilitated tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to ISIS extremists overseas, but trained with assault rifles at shooting ranges in the United States and declared his readiness to ISIS,” stated United States Attorney Durham. “Protecting the homeland and prosecuting evildoers who assist terrorist organizations by funding their violent and hateful agenda, here and abroad, will always be a priority of this Office.”
Mr. Durham praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD and over 50 other federal, state and local agencies.
“The Justice Department will relentlessly pursue those who fund and support terrorists,” stated Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We will not allow our immigration or financial systems to be exploited. Our country will not be a safe haven for those who try to harm Americans.”
“Today’s arrest demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to protecting the American people from the threat of terrorism,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy. “As alleged in the complaint, the defendant not only violated our immigration laws, but while unlawfully in the United States also provided substantial financial support to violent extremists affiliated with a designated foreign terrorist organization. In his promotion of violence and praise for terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, the defendant made clear his desire to support violent extremism, and I am grateful to all our folks on the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their vigilance and dedication to disrupting this threat and putting him behind bars.”
“The NYPD will stop at nothing to protect New Yorkers from those who support and pledge loyalty to violent ISIS extremists,” stated NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “I commend the NYPD investigators and all of our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners for identifying and arresting this gun-toting fraudster, and for thwarting the dangerous domestic threat he posed to our communities.”
As alleged in the complaint, Manuchekhri traveled to the United States from Tajikistan in June 2016 on a non-immigrant tourist visa and remained in the country after his visa expired in December 2016. In March 2017, Manuchekhri paid an American citizen to enter into a sham marriage with him so that he could obtain legal status in the United States. However, he failed to provide certain supporting documentation that was requested by the government and his petition was never granted.
From approximately December 2021 through April 2023, while residing in Brooklyn, Manuchekhri facilitated approximately $70,000 in payments to ISIS-affiliated individuals in Turkey and Syria, including to an individual who was later arrested by Turkish authorities for his alleged involvement in a January 2024 terrorist attack on a church in Istanbul for which ISIS-K publicly claimed responsibility. Manuchekhri expressed his support for ISIS to others by praising past ISIS attacks in the United States and by collecting jihadi propaganda videos promoting violence and martyrdom.
The complaint further alleges that Manuchekhri possessed and used firearms and made frequent visits to shooting ranges even though he was prohibited from doing so as an alien unlawfully in the United States. In February 2022, Manuchekhri recorded himself firing an assault rifle at a shooting range in New Jersey and sent the video to one of the ISIS-affiliated individuals in Turkey with the message, “Thank God, I am ready, brother.”
The charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Manuchekhri faces a maximum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and Cybercrime Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert M. Pollack and Andrew D. Reich are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Trial Attorneys John Cella and Andrea Broach of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Paralegal Specialist Wayne Colón.
The Defendant:
MANSURI MANUCHEKHRI
Age: 33
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-MJ-64