A California man pleaded guilty on Friday to attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist organization (ISIS) and plotting to kill a man he suspected to be an IDF soldier.
According to a criminal complaint against 34-year-old Ammaad Akhtar, between February 2025 and June 2025 Akhtar attempted to provide funds, weapons, and equipment to ISIS.
Starting in February 2025, Akhtar began communicating with what he believed to be a member of ISIS and discussed a desire to travel overseas to fight with ISIS, ownership of multiple firearms, plans to attack a man he believed to be an IDF soldier, and a plan to commit a terrorist attack using homemade explosives.
Akhtar was actually communicating with an FBI Controlled Persona, which is a fake identity created and maintained by FBI agents for investigative purposes.
Akhtar glorified violent jihad, prayed to destroy infidels
Throughout Akhtar’s months-long communications with the persona, he repeatedly glorified jihad, expressed admiration for ISIS terrorists, stated that he wished to join the terrorist group, and said that he prayed to find ways to destroy those who do not believe in Islam.
“A lot of Muslims in America are too scared to talk about jihad,” Akhtar told the persona on March 13, 2025. “I don’t like being around them too much because they don’t ever want to form a group to go and beat up the kafir (infidels).”
Akhtar also owned three firearms and a knife, which he sent pictures of to the persona. He told the persona that he regularly carried the knife and a gun on his person so he could be ready in case he ever engaged in “conflict” with a non-believer.
In April, 2025, Akhtar began discussing plans to attack a Jewish man he believed to be an IDF soldier.
On April 3, he told the persona that he had driven by a synagogue and noticed a man he had previously seen around the synagogue on Saturdays.
Akhtar stated that he followed the man to find out where the man lives and asked the persona what he could do to “handle” the Jewish man once he located the home.
He told the persona that there is a lot of crime in his area and that he was thinking of killing the Jewish man in a place where it would seem like a random attack.
According to the criminal complaint, further FBI investigation into the synagogue indicated that the Jewish man does not appear to be an IDF soldier.
Akhtar started planning terrorist attack before being arrested
In May 2025, Akhtar shared that he had started making plans to carry out a terrorist attack at a populated event. He said he planned to infiltrate an event run by non-believers by dressing like them and pretending to be one of them, but told the persona he “needs some help in how to make a boom,” and accompanied the message with an explosion emoji.
He asked the persona for information on how to make an explosive device and stated that he had not yet chosen a target for the attack but would figure one out.
On June 23, 2025, Akhtar met in person with an undercover FBI agent he believed to be affiliated with ISIS. During the meeting, Akhtar gave the agent binoculars, $400 cash, two loaded guns, and six magazines of ammunition.
Akhtar was detained the next day and charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which he pleaded guilty to on Friday.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2027 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison with a $250,000 fine.