WASHINGTON — A Virginia man is facing decades in prison for his part in a crypto scheme he used to raise money to send to ISIS members in Syria.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 35-year-old Mohammed Aharuddin Chhipa was found guilty by a jury on Friday for his efforts to help fund a foreign terrorist organization.
Court records show that Chhipa sent money to female ISIS members for at least three years. The money was to be used to help aid in the escape of female ISIS members from prison camps and to support ISIS fighters.
Chhipa had raised the money through various social media accounts where he would receive electronic money transfers that he would later convert into cryptocurrency and send it to Turkey, where it was smuggled to ISIS members in Syria.
In total, officials say, Chhipa sent more than $185,000 in cryptocurrency to his co-conspirator, a British-born ISIS member living in Syria.
Chhipa was convicted of one count of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization and four counts of providing and attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison per count.
Chhipa is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5, 2025.
