Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 19, 2019
American Citizen who became an ISIS Sniper and Trained Other ISIS Members in the Use of Weapons Charged with Providing Material Support to ISIS
Defendant Was Transferred to the United States from Custody of Syrian Democratic Forces
A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in the Eastern District of New York charging Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kazakhstan with providing and attempting to provide material support, including training, services and personnel, to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B. Asainov was detained overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and recently transferred into FBI custody. Asainov’s initial appearance is scheduled for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Steven M. Gold at the United States Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York.
…
“The defendant, a naturalized U.S. citizen residing in Brooklyn, turned his back on the country that took him in and joined ISIS, serving its violent ends in Syria and attempting to recruit others to its cause,” stated U.S. Attorney Donoghue. “Our counterterrorism prosecutors and law enforcement partners will continue working relentlessly to hold accountable those like the defendant who have supported ISIS’s violent agenda.”
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/american-citizen-who-became-isis-sniper-and-trained-other-isis-members-use-weapons-charged