Funneling cryptocurrency funds to ISIS leads to lengthy prison sentence
A Virginia man, Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa, could face three decades in prison after a court sentenced him for converting $185,000 to cryptocurrency and then transferring it to female members of ISIS. According to the US Justice Department, Mr Chhipa would raise funds online through several social media accounts in addition to collecting funds by hand, before then converting the money to cryptocurrency and sending it to Turkey where it was smuggled to ISIS in Syria. The long-winding litigation, stretching back to 2023, has been full of twists and turns, including Mr Chhipa writing letters to the judge asking that his lawyer be replaced, along with emails to the court insisting that he be able to communicate with a woman he claims to be his wife, Allison Ekren, a US woman who grew up in Kansas, converted to Islam and joined ISIS in Syria. Court documents show that Mr Chhipa, 35, was born in India in 1989 but later became a naturalised US citizen. He was convicted by a federal jury in December of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation and four counts of providing and attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation. 'This defendant directly financed ISIS in its efforts to commit vile terrorist atrocities against innocent citizens in America and abroad,' said US Attorney General Pamela Bondi. 'This severe sentence illustrates that if you fund terrorism, we will prosecute you and put you behind bars for decades.' FBI Director Kash Patel echoed those sentiments 'With this sentencing, this defendant will pay the price for helping finance ISIS, a brutal terrorist organisation,' he said. Though the court case concerning Mr Chhipa has been litigated for several years, the sentencing is the latest on a federal level to involve cryptocurrency assets being funnelled to ISIS, Hamas and other entities it deems to be involved in terrorism. Back in March, an investigation originating from the FBI's field office in New Mexico led to the seizure of $201,400 in crypto funds that was intended to finance Hamas. According to the US Justice Department, the assets were traced from fund-raising addresses controlled by Hamas 'that were used to launder more than $1.5 million in virtual currency' since October last year. 'These seizures show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas,' said US Attorney Edward R Martin. 'Wherever it is found, and in whatever form of currency,' he added. That investigation, and the recent sentencing involving Mr Chhipa come as US President Donald Trump's administration continues to define its vision for an unrestrained cryptocurrency sector. Crypto proponents were some of the most prolific contributors to Mr Trump's campaign last year as they sought less regulation compared to former president Joe Biden's approach. Shortly after Mr Trump entered office in January, US officials dropped various lawsuits and investigations into crypto companies. In early March, Mr Trump signed an executive order establishing a federal strategic Bitcoin reserve, and later hosted the first White House Crypto Summit. It is a completely about-face from 2021, when Mr Trump said in a Fox Business interview that Bitcoin, one of the flagship crypto brands, was a 'disaster waiting to happen' and claimed that it hurt the dollar. Despite increasing enthusiasm and usage over the last decade, criticism and scepticism still abounds on crypto, which, unlike fiat currencies, lacks an overall regulatory apparatus and is mostly decentralised, making it appealing to groups with nefarious intentions. Last year, while giving a speech about artificial intelligence and power grids, former US Energy Secretary briefly touched upon his concerns about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in the context of nefarious activity. 'Roughly speaking half the electricity of data centres is used to mine Bitcoin type currencies,' he said. 'What is it used for? Money laundering and evading taxes … so half of the electricity doing that is not a good thing, personally it should be outlawed, but because it's making people a lot of money, there's a lot of forcing not wanting to outlaw it,' Mr Chu explained. At the start of 2025, Russia announced that it would be banning crypto mining in several locations throughout the country in an effort to preserve energy resources. Cryptocurrency mining is generally defined as the process by which digital assets are obtained, most famously initiated by Bitcoin. They are secured through a blockchain network.
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