NEW YORK: A suburban New York hospital technician accused of
using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to launder money meant for the
militant Islamic State (IS) group was arrested on charges of money
laundering in support of a foreign terrorist organisation and bank
fraud, prosecutors said on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors
in New York’s Suffolk County claimed in court papers that Zoobia
Shahnaz, 27, used fraudulent credit cards and loans to accumulate
$85,000, which she attempted to transfer to IS before attempting to go
to Syria to join it.
Prosecutors said that after
travelling to Jordan to work with the Syrian American Medical Society,
Ms Shahnaz returned to the United States and applied for six credit
cards, which she used to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The
resident of the hamlet of Brentwood in Islip on Long Island appeared
before a federal judge late on Thursday and was ordered to be detained,
prosecutors said.
Her lawyer, Steve Zissou, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
“After
borrowing about $85,000 with fraudulently obtained credit cards and
loans and withdrawing another $22,000 from bank accounts in her own
name, Ms Shahnaz sent funds to recipients in Pakistan, China and
Turkey,” prosecutors said.
“Some of that money came in
the form of $63,000 in bitcoin and other crypto-currencies purchased
with the credit cards,” prosecutors added.
