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A New York City woman was charged with multiple counts of providing support for terrorists this week for allegedly sending cryptocurrency to a Syrian-based terrorist group, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced.
Victoria Jacobs, a 43-year-old woman who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, faces charges of supporting an act of terrorism, conspiracy in the fourth degree as a crime of terrorism, laundering money in support of terrorism and other counts.
"This case marks the first time terrorist financing has been prosecuted in New York State Court and is one of the rare cases worldwide where cryptocurrency is alleged to have financed terrorism," Bragg said in a statement.
Jacobs, also known as Bakhrom Talipov, allegedly sent more than $5,000 in crypto to the terrorist training group "Malhama Tactical" between September 2018 and June 2019.
Fighters affiliated with Syria's "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" (HTS) rebel group take part in a military exercise on live ammunition attack tactics, on the outskirts of the northwestern province of Idlib, on November 8, 2022. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Malhama Tactical fought and trained Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which the State Department designated a foreign terrorist organization in May 2018.
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Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham was founded near the beginning of syrian civil war and "retains a Salafi-jihadist ideology despite its public split from al-Qaeda in 2017," according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Jacobs also allegedly laundered $10,661 for Mahalma Tactical and sent a US Army Improvised Munitions Manual to an online group he believed to be associated with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and Hurras al-Din, an affiliated jihadist group. to al Qaeda.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in 2018. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The Director of National Intelligence said in a 2021 report that terrorists have increasingly turned to cryptocurrency to finance their activities.
"While cryptocurrency is used for legal and legitimate transactions, it attracts violent extremists due to its pseudonymousness, varying regulatory and supervisory requirements by country, convenience, and fast transfer speeds," the DNI wrote.
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Jacobs was also charged with six counts of criminal possession of a weapon for allegedly purchasing combat knives and throwing stars.
