NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Manhattan federal court convicted a 44-year-old New Jersey software engineer of receiving training from Hezbollah after prosecutors accused him of surveilling New York monuments and infrastructure for terrorist attacks.
The prosecutors failed to convince the jury of the more serious terrorism charge against Alexei Saab — providing material support for a terrorist group.
Saab was also convicted of marriage fraud and making false statements.
Hezbollah is comprised of a political party, which holds 12 of the 128 seats in Lebanese parliament, and a paramilitary wing.
The U.S. Department of State designated the group a terrorist organization in 1997.
The FBI believes Saab joined Hezbollah in 1996 and carried out military intelligence operations in Lebanon.
The feds accused Saab of receiving weapons training from Hezbollah starting in 1999 before moving to New Jersey and surveilling New York City landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations and Times Square for potential terrorist attacks between 2000 and 2005.
They also accused him of sending information on New York City tunnels and bridges to Hezbollah and opening a front company that could obtain fertilizer for explosives.
“Saab’s chilling campaign against the American ideals of liberty and freedom has thankfully come to an end,” said prosecuting attorney Damian Williams of the conviction.
Marlon Kirton, Saab’s lawyer, told the Associated Press that most of the information used as evidence of Saab’s crimes came from the 11 interviews the FBI conducted with him. He described the evidence as “un-credible, crazy, unsubstantiated information.”
The marriage fraud and false statement charges stemmed from a 2012 scheme, in which he was paid $20,000 to marry a woman in order to facilitate her immigration to the U.S.
He faces up to 20 years in prison for the training, marriage and false statements charges.
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