US couple pleads guilty to funding Hezbollah

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Report: Married couple with dual Lebanese, US citizenship admits they planned to provide terrorist group with up to $1 million.

Hor and Amera Akl, a married couple from the United States, pleaded guilty pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of planning to courier money to Hezbollah, the Associated Press reported. The couple had been planning to send up to $1 million to the US-classified "terrorist organization" throughout the year, federal prosecutors said.

The plea deal was was meant to save Hor and Amera Akl, parents of three children and dual American and Lebanese citizens, from life sentences.

An FBI agent reportedly gave the couple their first $200,000 shipment that was to be hidden in an SUV prior to their arrests last June, the Associated Press reported the US government as saying. Hor Akl had traveled to Lebanon in 2010 to arrange the transport, and when he returned claimed he had met with Hezbollah officials.

The Akls, who were expected to earn $200,000 in fees to ship the funds, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material to a foreign "terrorist organization," and Hor pleaded guilty to money laundering, bankruptcy fraud and perjury charges as well.

In return, prosecutors dropped an arson charge against both individuals that would have landed them an obligatory 10-year sentence and a money laundering charge against Amera Akl. The couple could have faced 30-year sentences if they had been convicted of all charges.

Instead, Hor Akl faces seven years in prison while Amera faces up to four.

Amera Akl is set to be sentenced June 20, while her husband still lacks a sentencing date, the Associated Press said. They remained free on bail after their pleas.

Source: The Jerusalem post