A teenager who allegedly gave ISIL supporters advice on bitcoin has plead guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the terrorist group.
17-year-old Ali Shukri Amin, from Woodbridge, Virginia, worked as a writer for digital currency news site CoinBrief. He is accused of offering guidance to ISIL (or ISIS) supporters wanting to travel to Syria via Twitter, facing a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Assistant attorney general John P Carlin said in a statement:
“We are seeing ISIL use social media to reach out from the other side of the world. Their messages are reaching America in an attempt to radicalise, recruit and incite our youth and others to support ISIL’s violent causes. This case serves as a wake-up call that ISIL’s propaganda and recruitment materials are in your communities and being viewed by your youth.”
The news follows the publication of controversial research by Singapore-based intelligence firm S2T, which claimed a US cell could be using bitcoin to raise funds for the terrorist group.
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