When Abad Elfgeeh was arrested in Brooklyn in 2003, there were suspicions of his deep involvement in a terrorism network.
The ice cream shop owner was alleged to have funneled millions to his homeland of Yemen. He even helped a prominent Yemeni cleric, Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, transfer money; once a spiritual adviser to Osama Bin Laden, the fundamentalist al-Moayad was convicted in 2005 of conspiring to support al Qaeda and Hamas.
Ultimately, Elfgeeh was convicted of illegally funneling more than $22 million overseas. While found guilty of moving the millions without proper licensing, Elfgeeh was not convicted of any terrorism-related crimes.
Now, his nephew, Mufid Elfgeeh, has been charged in federal court in Rochester, accused of plotting to buy weapons to kill American troops returning from war, as well as Shi'ite Muslims. And, some of the same questions linger over his criminal allegations — most specifically, was Mufid Elfgeeh working on behalf of anti-American factions?
" ... It's like (Americans) go to Afghanistan killing everybody," Mufid Elfgeeh allegedly told an FBI informant in a conversation secretly recorded in December. "It's like they went to Yemen now killing everybody. Doesn't make no difference."
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