Detroit man pleads guilty to charges of donating Bitcoin to ISIS

FOX 2 - A Detroit man pleaded guilty to concealing cryptocurrency donations to ISIS this week, according to the United States Attorney's Office Eastern District of Michigan.

The backstory:

Jibreel Pratt pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of concealing crypto donations he intended to make to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

"Jibreel Pratt has many talents - and he swore a binding oath to use them to help ISIS — a genocidal anti-American terrorist organization," said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon. "Pratt meticulously plotted to support ISIS and covertly sent them money to further their evil works. We will find the terrorists operating in our shadows and bring them to justice."

Investigators say that in February of 2022, that Pratt, 26, initiated a conversation with a Confidential Human Source who he believed was an ISIS member who could help get him overseas to join ISIS.

Over the next several months, law enforcement said Pratt told him he wanted to travel overseas to join ISIS and recorded a video pledging allegiance to ISIS’s leader.

Pratt also provided ideas, information, documents and handwritten notes on tactics including:

• How ISIS could use drones and remote-controlled cars to deliver explosives.
• How ISIS could organize intelligence operations.
• How ISIS could improve its air defense systems.

In March and May 2023, Pratt sent the cryptocurrency - Bitcoin - to the CHS, intending that the money would be used to help pay for the travel of others allegedly traveling to join ISIS and/or to help fund a man who Pratt believed would commit an act of violence in support of ISIS.

Investigators say Pratt concealed the nature and source of his Bitcoin transfers by using a private VPN and an app that encrypted keys and transaction data.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 13 of this year. A conviction for concealing the financing of terrorism carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

The parties agreed that a nine-year sentence is an appropriate resolution of the matter.

"Today’s guilty plea by Jibreel Pratt underscores the serious threat posed by individuals who attempt to support foreign terrorist organizations known for violence and human rights abuses," said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. "The FBI remains unwavering in its commitment to protecting the American people from those who seek to carry out or orchestrate acts of terrorism."