Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the sentencing of VICTORIA JACOBS a/k/a BAKHROM TALIPOV, 44, to 18 years in state prison for using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to violent terrorist groups operating in Syria. On February 1, 2024, JACOBS was convicted by a New York State Supreme Court jury on all of the counts in the indictment against her, including Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism, Money Laundering, Criminal Possession of a Weapon, and more.
“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,” said District Attorney Bragg. “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. Thanks to the dedication and pioneering cryptocurrency expertise of my Office’s dedicated Counterterrorism Unit and our partners in the NYPD, Victoria Jacobs has been held accountable for her actions and will serve 18 years in prison.”
“Today’s sentencing makes our city, our nation, and our world safer,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban. “As long as supporters of international terrorism continue to threaten the people we serve, the NYPD and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring them to justice. I commend the NYPD’s skilled investigators and everyone from the Manhattan district attorney’s counterterrorism program for their efforts on this important case.”
The indictment followed a year-and-a-half-long investigation by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Counter Terrorism Unit, which was created in June 2015 to identify and pursue investigative leads related to homegrown terror plots, extremist activities, and terror-financing.
As proven at trial, from September 2018 through June 2019, JACOBS provided material support to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization, while living in New York City. JACOBS provided more than $6,000 to the terrorist training group “Malhama Tactical,” which fought with and provided special tactical and military training to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
JACOBS also laundered $12,000 on behalf of Malhama Tactical by receiving cryptocurrency and Western Union and MoneyGram wires from supporters around the globe and sending the funds to Bitcoin wallets controlled by Malhama Tactical. In addition to sending cryptocurrency, she also purchased Google Play gift cards for the organization.
In December 2019, JACOBS provided a comprehensive U.S. Army Improvised Munitions Handbook to an online group – which she believed was associated with both Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda affiliated Jihadist group Hurras al-Din – to facilitate their bomb-making efforts in Syria. In August 2021, JACOBS purchased military-style combat knives, metal knuckles, and throwing-stars, with an intent to use them unlawfully against another person, having posted in online forums that she was a “brother” who was “behind enemy lines,” and asked for prayers for the “courage, strength, guidance, and wisdom to carry out certain missions.”
Prior Anti-Terror Prosecutions
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has successfully prosecuted terrorists under New York State’s anti-terror laws, which were enacted following the attacks on September 11, 2001.
In January 2023, an all-count conviction was secured following the trial of radical cleric Shaikh Abdullah Faisal, who was later sentenced to 18 years in prison.
In March 2014, Jose Pimentel was sentenced to 16 years in state prison for constructing improvised explosive devices to detonate in Manhattan.
In another case, in March 2013, Ahmed Ferhani was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after the defendant pleaded guilty to terror-related charges.
Assistant District Attorneys David Stuart (Chief of the Counter Terrorism Unit) and Edward Burns (Senior Investigative Counsel) handled the prosecution of the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Michael Ohm (Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau and former Deputy Bureau Chief of the Rackets Bureau), Judy Salwen (Principal Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau), Jodie Kane (Chief of the Rackets Bureau and Acting Chief of the Investigation Division), with Ryan Rittenberg (Director of Intelligence and Analysis of Counter Terrorism), Catherine Schreck (Senior Counter Terrorism Analyst), Juanita Garcia (Counter Terrorism Analyst), Christine McNeill (former Counter Terrorism Analyst), Elena Christenfeld (Trial Preparation Assistant), and Supervising Computer Forensic Analyst Douglas Daus, under the supervision of Steven Moran, Director of the High Tech Analysis Unit. D.A. Bragg also thanked former Assistant District Attorneys Eun Ha Kim and Raffaela Belizaire, and former Deputy Chief Investigator Kevin Branzetti.
District Attorney Bragg thanked the New York City Police Department’s Counterterrorism and Intelligence Bureau; particularly investigators Lieutenant Brian Caltabiano, Sergeant Driton Gashi, Detective Atif Siddiqui, Intelligence Research Specialist Raphael Marcus, and Intelligence Research Specialist Daniel Heesemann; Detective Andrew Eaton of the NYPD’s Bomb Squad; Detective Mina Habib and Detective Yulia Yakovleva.
Defendant Information:
VICTORIA JACOBS a/k/a BAKHROM TALIPOV
New York, New York
Convicted:
- Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the First Degree as a Crime of Terrorism, a class B violent felony, one count
- Soliciting or Providing Support for an Act of Terrorism in the Second Degree, a class D violent felony, one count
- Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree as a Crime of Terrorism, a class D violent felony, one count
- Money Laundering in Support of Terrorism in the Third Degree, a class D felony, one count
- Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, a class D felony, six counts
Sentenced:
- 18 years in state prison
- 5 years post-release supervision
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