Murat Kurashev, 36, of Sacramento, California, United States is a handyman originally from Russia. He is accused of supporting Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an organization that engages in terrorism in Syria.
Formed on January 28, 2017, HTS is headquartered in Idlib Governorate, Syria. It is a merger between Ansar al-Din Front, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Jaysh al-Ahrar, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement.
Between July 2020 and February 2021, Kurashev used money transfer services to send around $13,000 to two known couriers of Farrukh Fayzimatov, an HTS fundraiser in Turkey, usually in increments of $1,000. Kurashev was aware of Fayzimatov’s participation and work on behalf of the organization.
On February 10, 2021, Kurachev transferred $200 worth of Bitcoin directly to a wallet for Fayzimatov. When the two communicated through social media and encrypted mobile messaging, the Sacramento resident mentioned that regretted that he could only provide financial support because he wanted to join the fight in Syria as a mujahid, a person who engages in jihad.
On February 18, 2021, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Kurachev. He was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail in Sacramento.
When the FBI agents searched Kurachev’s Apple iCloud account, they found violent extremist content, including a video of HTS fighters. He watched this video while driving his work van along Interstate 80, a freeway that crosses the U.S. from San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey, USA in New York, USA.
On January 8, 2024, Kurasev appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller in federal court where he pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. On March 18, 2024, the Russian handyman will be sentenced by a federal district court judge.
CONAN Daily 