Enaam M. Arnaout (Kunya: Abu Mahmoud[1]) is a Syrian-American who pleaded guilty to using charitable donations to support fighters in Bosnia without apprising the donors of this,[2] during his tenure as a director of the charity Benevolence International Foundation (which is now banned worldwide by the United Nations).
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Arnaout was raised in Hamat, Syria.[3] In 1988, Arnaout participated in the Battle of Jaji, and was photographed alongside Osama bin Laden and quoted in the Arab News as saying the Soviet forces had destroyed the trees that the Mujahideen had hoped to use for fortifications.[3]
Prior to 1996, Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, Mohammed Atef and Yaseen al-Iraqi aided Arnaout in purchasing AK-47s and mortar rounds from a Pashtun tribesman named Hajjji Ayoub, and they were subsequently delivered in large trucks to the Jawr and Jihad Wahl training camps.[1]
During a sentencing hearing in August 2003, U.S. District Judge Suzanne Conlon told prosecutors they had “failed to connect the dots” and said there was no evidence that Arnaout “identified with or supported” terrorism.[4]
Arnaout entered into a plea agreement on February 10, 2003, in which he pled guilty to a single count of racketeering.[5] In that agreement, the prosecution acknowledged that neither Arnaout nor BIF had acted contrary to the interests of the United States, or had any ties to Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda. Arnaout's statement of guilt acknowledges subverting on the order of $300,000 to $400,000 of charitable funds (out of a total of about $20,000,000) to buy boots, uniforms, tents, and an ambulance for Bosnian fighters, without the knowledge of the charitable donors. Judge Conlon sentenced Arnaout to 136 months in prison.
Both Arnaout and the government appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. On December 2, 2005, the Seventh Circuit reversed the sentence and remanded the case to Judge Conlon for resentencing. In February 2006, Judge Conlon resentenced Arnaout to 120 months (10 years) in prison.[6]