Detroit man sentenced to 9 years in prison for attempting to donate cryptocurrency to ISIS

A Detroit man will spend nine years in prison after pleading guilty to twice concealing cryptocurrency donations intended for ISIS, federal prosecutors said. 

According to court records, Jibreel Pratt, 26, initiated a conversation with an informant in February 2023, who Pratt believed was an ISIS member who could organize overseas travel for Pratt to join ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization. During the next several months, federal prosecutors say Pratt stated his desire to join ISIS and pledged his allegiance to ISIS’s leader in a recorded video. Authorities say Pratt also provided his thoughts, including handwritten notes, on how ISIS can improve its air defense systems, organize intelligence operations, and use drones and remote-controlled cars to deliver explosives.

In March and May 2023, court records show Pratt sent Bitcoin to the informant, with the intention that the money would be used to fund the travel for others who were allegedly planning to join ISIS and to pay for a person who Pratt believed would commit violence in support of the terrorist organization. 

Prosecutors say Pratt concealed the intent and source of the cryptocurrency transfers by using a VPN and an app that encrypted transaction data and private keys. 

“Over these last years, our office has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with the FBI to protect Americans from hardened ISIS supporters in our midst. Mr. Pratt is the latest traitor who—in his own words—operated ‘in the shadows.’ And we will continue to stand guard because he may not be the last,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. in a statement. 

The FBI investigated Pratt’s case.