Islamic Charity Head Charged with Racketeering, Support of UBL Terrorists

October 9, 2002

CHICAGO  — The leader of a Chicago-area Islamic charity was indicted on racketeering charges Wednesday, and the government accused him of fraudulently obtaining donations to support Usama bin Laden's terrorist network.

Enaam M. Arnaout, 40, of the Chicago suburb of Justice, head of Benevolence International Foundation, has been held in federal custody since April.

The indictment said a criminal enterprise that existed for at least a decade had used charitable contributions of innocent Muslims, non-Muslims and corporations to support bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, Chechen rebels fighting the Russian army and armed violence in Bosnia.

Arnaout was charged with one count each of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to launder money, money laundering and wire fraud. He also was charged with two counts of mail fraud.

According to the indictment, Benevolence International and Arnaout engaged in a pattern of racketeering. The objective was to support Islamic warriors around the world by raising funds.

The organizations involved were Al Qaeda and Hezb e Islami, a militant group run by an Afghan warlord.

Arnaout was charged in April with perjury after filing a sworn statement denying that he had provided support to terrorist organizations.

U.S. District Judge Joan B. Gottschall recently dismissed those charges, saying Arnaout had committed no crime. But federal prosecutors immediately filed new perjury charges against Arnaout and they are still pending.

Arnaout has been held since April in the federal government's Metropolitan Correctional Center. He is not allowed to move around the center without a three-guard escort.

Benevolence International Foundation, founded 10 years ago, was charged in the perjury case but was not named as a defendant in Wednesday's racketeering indictment.

The group's offices in Palos Hills were raided Dec. 14 by FBI and Treasury agents, and its records were confiscated. The same day the Treasury Department froze the group's U.S. bank accounts on grounds that the group was suspected of supporting terrorism. The accounts remain frozen.

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