Colorado Man Sentenced After Pleading Guilty To Terrorist Financing Charge

DENVER - The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announces that Humzah Mashkoor, 20, of Westminster, Colorado, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to concealing the nature, source, or ownership of funds with the knowledge or intent that such funds would be provided to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to the plea agreement, between September 2022 and December 2023, Mashkoor communicated with FBI online covert employees regarding his intent to travel to join ISIS, to provide money to ISIS in support of their efforts, and to recruit others to support ISIS through travel and/or financial contributions. Mashkoor told various FBI online covert employees that he planned to travel in December 2023 to the United Arab Emirates, where he would transfer funds to ISIS and stay until he continued on to either Afghanistan or Syria to serve as a fighter for ISIS. In advance of his travel, Mashkoor took steps to conceal the nature, source, or ownership of funds while he was in the United States that would allow him to covertly transfer funds to ISIS via cryptocurrency upon his planned arrival in the UAE. On December 18, 2023, federal agents arrested Mashkoor at the Denver International Airport before he boarded the first leg of his trip to the UAE.

"Providing material support to a terrorist organization is a serious crime against the United States and I am glad the defendant will spend years in federal prison for what he did," said United States Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly.

"This investigation was the result of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (comprised of federal, state, and local partners) as well as the Thornton and Westminster police departments," said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski. "We vigorously pursue investigations when an individual crosses the line from espousing particular views into planning or committing acts of violence, in this case in support of a foreign terrorist organization. Defending the homeland continues to be an FBI top priority."

United States District Judge Regina M. Rodriguez presided over the sentencing.

The FBI Denver Field Office handled the investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Laura Cramer-Babycz and Jasand Mock for the District of Colorado prosecuted the case, with the assistance of Tanya Senanayake of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section.

Case Number: 24-cr-0018-RMR