Case 1 16-cr-00042-LMB Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 1 of 10 PageID# 115 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE IN opf n court EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA FEB I 6 2016 Alexandria Division UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Criminal No 1 16cr42 CLERK U S DISTRICT COURT ALEXANDRIA VIRGINIA Count One 18 U S C 2339B Conspiracy to Provide Material Support and Resources to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization V ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY Count Two 18 U S C 2339B Providing Material Support and Resources to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization Defendant Count Three 18 U S C 1030 a 2 C Unauthorized Computer Access and Obtaining Information Count Four 18 U S C 1028A a 2 Aggravated Identity Theft INDICTMENT Februarv 2016 Term - At Alexandria Virginia THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT At all times relevant to this Indictment GENERAL ALLEGATIONS 1 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant On October 15 2004 the U S Department of State designated Al-Qa'ida in Iraq AQI then known as Jam'at al Tawhid wa'al-Jihad as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity pursuant to Executive Order 13224 On May 15 2014 the Secretary of State amended the designation of AQI as a Foreign Terrorist Organization Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 2 of 10 PagelD# 116 under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity under Executive Order 13224 to add the alias Islamic State of Iraq andthe Levant as its primary name The Secretary also added the following aliases to the ISIL listing the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ad-Dawla al-Islamiyya f1 al- Iraq wa-sh-Sham Daesh Dawla a1 Islamiya and Al-Furqan Establishment for Media Production Although the group has never called itself Al-Qa ida in Iraq this name has frequently been used by others to describe it In an audio recording publicly released on or around June 29 2014 ISIL announced a formal change of its name to the Islamic State To date ISIL remains a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization 2 On or about September 21 2014 ISIL spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani called for attacks against citizens civilian or military of the United States and other countries participating in the United States-led coalition against ISIL 3 ISIL sought to obtain and disclose personally identi able information for individuals in the United States military and government and directed its supporters to kill those individuals ISIL published PII under the name the Islamic State Hacking Division 4 Ardit Ferizi FERIZI was a Kosovo citizen residing in Malaysia who was the leader of a Kosovar intemet group that gained unauthorized access to servers FERIZI knew that ISIL was a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and that ISIL had engaged in and was engaging in terrorist activity and terrorism 5 Victim Company an Illinois company that operated a website to sell goods to customers in the United States and abroad was engaged in business practices that affected interstate and foreign commerce Customers provided PII belonging to themselves to the Victim 2 Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 3 of 10 PagelD# 117 Company through its website to buy goods that were shipped throughout the United States and abroad 6 Hosting Company a United States company with a data center in Arizona that hosted websites for the Victim Company and others was engaged in business practices that affected interstate and foreign commerce The Victim Company leased a server from the Hosting Company to store the P11 belonging to its customers 7 On or about January 22 2016 pursuant to Title 18 United State Code Section 3238 FERIZI was rst brought to the Eastern District of Virginia Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 4 of 10 PagelD# 118 COUNT ONE Conspiring to Provide Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization 18 US C 23393 THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES THAT 8 Paragraphs 1 through 7 of the Indictment are incorporated herein by reference 9 From in and around April 2015 to August 11 2015 in an offense begun and committed outside of the jurisdiction of any particular State or district of the United States the defendant ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY and others known and unknown to the Grand ury did knowingly combine conspire confederate and agree together and with each other to provide material support and resources as that term is de ned in 18 U S C 2339A b namely property and services including themselves as personnel expert advice and assistance and personally identi able information belonging to persons in the United States to a foreign terrorist organization namely the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant knowing that the foreign terrorist organization was designated a terrorist organization and knowing that the foreign terrorist organization had engaged in and was engaging in terrorist activity and terrorism in violation of Title 18 United States Code Section 2339B Manner and Means of the Conspiracy 10 It was part of the conspiracy that FERIZI would and did use his specialized knowledge about hacking to support ISIL including accessing servers without authorization in order to take PH 11 It was further part of the conSpiracy that FERIZI would and did communicate with ISIL members over the intemet using social media Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 5 of 10 PagelD# 119 12 It was further part of the conspiracy that FERIZI accessed without authorization and exceeded authorized access to the Hosting Company s server that maintained the Victim Company s website which gave FERIZI access to P11 belponging'to thousands of customers of the Victim Company 13 It was further part of the conspiracy that FERIZI would and did access and obtain PII belonging to approximately 1 3 00 United States military and other government personnel from the Hosting Company s server that contained PII for the Victim Company s customers 14 It was further part of the conspiracy that FERIZI would and did provide the P11 of approximately 1 300 United States military and other government personnel including persons located in the Eastern District of Virginia to ISIL knowing that ISIL would use the P11 to engage in terrorist activity and terrorism 15 It was further part of the conSpiracy that ISIL through the ISHD would and did send a communication over Twitter that contained a document with the PII of approximately 1 300 United States military and other government personnel that FERIZI had taken from the Victim Company and Hosting Company The beginning of the document warned the Crusaders who were conducting a bombing campaign against the muslimsz we are in your emails and computer systems watching and recording your every move we have your names and addresses we are in your emails and social media accounts we are extracting confidential data and passing on your personal information to the soldiers of the khilafah who soon with the permission of Allah will strike at your necks in your own lands Emphasis added In violation of Title 18 United States Code Section 2339B Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 6 of 10 PagelD# 120 COUNT TWO Attempting to Provide and Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization 1 8 U S C 233 93 THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES THAT 16 Paragraphs 1 through 7 and 10 through 15 of the Indictment are incorporated herein by reference 17 From in and around April 2015 to August 11 2015 in an offense begun and committed outside of the jurisdiction of any particular State or district of the United States the defendant ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY and others known and unknown to the Grand Jury did knowingly attempt to provide and did provide material support and resources as that term is de ned in 18 U S C 2339A b namely property and services including himself as personnel expert advice and assistance and personally identi able information of persons in the United States to a foreign terrorist organization namely the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant knowing that the foreign terrorist organization was designated a terrorist organization and knowing that the foreign terrorist organization had engaged in and was engaging in terrorist activity and terrorism In violation of Title 18 United States Code Section 2339B Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 7 of 10 PagelD# 121 COUNT THREE Obtaining Information from a Protected Computer 18 US C 1030 a 2 THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES THAT 18 Paragraphs 1 through 7 and 10 through 15 of the Indictment are incorporated herein by reference 19 From on or about June 13 2015 to August 11 2015 in an offense begun and committed outside of any particular State or district of the United States the defendant ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY intentionally accessed a protected computer without authorization and exceeded authorized access to a protected computer and thereby obtained information from a protected computer and the offense was committed in furtherance of a criminal act in violation of the laws of the United States speci cally the criminal act of conspiring to provide attempting to provide and providing material support to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant a designated foreign terrorist organization as prohibited by 18 U S C 23393 as referenced in Counts One and Two of this Indictment In violation of Title 18 United States Code Sections 103 and Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 8 of 10 PagelD# 122 COUNT FOUR Aggravated Identity Theft 18 1 5 C 1028A a 2 THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES THAT 20 Paragraphs 1 through 7 and 10 through 15 of the Indictment are incorporated herein by reference 21 From on or about June 13 2015 to August 11 2015 in an offense begun and committed outside of any particular State or district of the United States the defendant ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY did knowingly transfer possess and use without lawful authority a means of identi cation of another person during and in relation to a felony violation enumerated in 18 U S C 2332b g 5 B that is conspiring to provide attempting to provide and providing material support to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant a designated foreign terrorist organization as prohibited by 18 U S C 2339B as referenced in Counts One and Two of this Indictment knowing that the means of identi cation belonged to another actual person In violation of Title 18 United States Code Section 1028A a 2 Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 9 of 10 PagelD# 123 FORFEITURE NOTICE l The allegations contained in Counts One and Two of this Indictment are hereby re-alleged and incorporated by reference for the purpose of alleging forfeitures pursuant to the provisions of Title 18 United States Code Sections and Title 28 United States Code Section 2461 2 From his engagement in the violations alleged in Counts One and Two of this Indictment punishable by imprisonment for more than one year the defendant ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY shall forfeit to the United States of America pursuant to Title 18 United States Code Section 981 a 1 C and Title 28 United States Code Section 2461 c all of his interest in any property constituting or derived from proceeds obtained directly or indirectly as a result of the said violation s pursuant to Title 18 United States Code Section and Title 28 United States Code Section 2461 c all assets foreign or domestic derived from involved in or used or intended to be used to commit any act of domestic or international terrorism against the United States citizens or residents of the United States or their pr0perty 3 The allegations contained in Count Three of this Indictment are hereby re alleged and incorporated by reference for the purpose of alleging forfeitures pursuant to the provisions of Title 18 United States Code Sections 982 a 2 B and and Title 28 United States Code Section2461 c 4 From his engagement in the violations alleged in Count Three of this Indictment punishable by imprisonment for more than one year the defendant ARDIT FERIZI a k a Th3Dir3ctorY shall forfeit to the United States of America pursuant to Title 18 United States Code Section any and all right title and interest he has in any prOperty constituting 9 Case Document 21 Filed 02 16 16 Page 10 of 10 Page D# 124 or derived from proceeds the person obtained directly or indirectly as a result of such violation s and pursuant to Title 18 United States Code Section and Title 28 United States Code Section 2461 0 all assets foreign or domestic derived from involved in or used or intended to be used to commit any act of domestic or international terrorism against the United States citizens or residents of the United States or their property 5 If any of the property described above as a result of any act or omission of the defendant a cannot be located upon the exercise of due diligence b has been transferred or sold to or deposited with a third party 0 has been placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court 1 has been substantially diminished in value or e has been commingled with other property which cannot be divided without dif culty the United States of America shall be entitled to forfeiture of substitute property under the provisions of Title 21 United States Code Section 853 p as incorporated by Title 28 United States Code Section 2461 A B-Govenunem Act The origin omits page has been led DANA J BOENTE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY Bygm Brandon L Van Grack Special Assistant United States Attorney Gregory R Gonzalez Trial Attorney US Department of Justice National Security Division 10 This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu