A New York woman was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Tuesday for funding terrorism by using cryptocurrency to send financial support to groups operating in Syria.
After Judge Althea Drysdale imposed the sentence, the woman, Victoria Jacobs, 44, yelled that the trial had been “a sham” and “Islamophobic” as officers led her from the courtroom.
Dressed in a tan sweatshirt and khaki pants, Ms. Jacobs had appeared irritated as soon as she sat down at the defense table and had asked that her handcuffs be removed.
In February, a Manhattan jury convicted Ms. Jacobs of three felony counts of providing support for an act of terrorism after a trial that lasted about two weeks. The jury also found her guilty of conspiracy, money laundering and criminal possession of a weapon.
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, had said that the case was the first time terrorism funding had been prosecuted in New York State Supreme Court.
“Victoria Jacobs was fully immersed in online terrorist ecosystems, raising and laundering thousands of dollars and procuring bomb-making instructions and illegal knives for Syrian terrorist groups,” Mr. Bragg said in a statement Tuesday. “From the safety of her Manhattan apartment, she enabled these groups to access our city’s financial markets in order to help further their mission.”
In an indictment filed against Ms. Jacobs last year, prosecutors said that she provided “material support” to a group that the U.S. State Department had designated as a terrorist organization, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. Ms. Jacobs, who lived on the Upper East Side, provided more than $6,000 to a training group, Malhama Tactical, that “fought with and provided special tactical and military training” to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, prosecutors said.
Ms. Jacobs was also accused of laundering more than $12,000 on behalf of Malhama Tactical by receiving cryptocurrency and Western Union and MoneyGram wires from its supporters around the world and sending the funds to Bitcoin wallets the group controlled.
Her lawyer, Michael Fineman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During closing arguments at Ms. Jacobs’s trial, Mr. Fineman said that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter — it’s all a matter of perspective.” He implored the jurors to acquit Ms. Jacobs, arguing that the groups prosecutors accused her of helping were not well known like ISIS or Al Qaeda.
It took the jury less than three hours to return from deliberations with convictions on all counts.
On Tuesday, the prosecutor, David Stuart, said Ms. Jacobs viewed the United States and New York City as “enemies” and showed “zero remorse” for her actions. She supported the terrorist organizations and their activities from the “shadows of the internet,” he said.
And since her conviction, Ms. Jacobs has “turned vengeful” and has “attempted to undermine the court process,” Mr. Stuart said. In recorded phone calls from jail, Ms. Jacobs said that once she was released, she would get revenge on the New York Police Department, the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the court, he said.
In response, Mr. Fineman asked the court to show mercy and said that Ms. Jacobs had undergone a psychological evaluation that found her to have several mental health conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. She was “vulnerable” and “by herself” during the years that prosecutors said she committed the crimes, he said.
Before her sentencing, Ms. Jacobs addressed the court, saying that the case against her had begun as an issue with her landlord before it spiraled. Her landlord, she said in a winding explanation, accused her of being connected to terrorism “because I’m originally from Uzbekistan, a transgender woman and a Muslim woman.”
Ms. Jacobs continued speaking for several minutes, mentioning Mr. Bragg and the popular video game Call of Duty. Judge Drysdale interrupted her to ask, “Anything else, Ms. Jacobs?” She went on for another few minutes as the judge continued to interrupt her, saying “All right, Ms. Jacobs” and “I heard your explanation before.” After another several minutes, the judge began her sentencing.
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