A US national Wednesday pleaded guilty to the charges ofhelping and supporting Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba involved in the2008 Mumbai attacks.
Michael Kyle Sewell, 18, who was arrested in February,admitted to encouraging an individual, identified in court documents only ascoconspirator 1, to join Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
He now faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine ofup to USD 250,000. The sentencing is scheduled for August 12.
According to the guilty plea, Sewell provided thecoconspirator, who he spoke to on social media, with contact information for anindividual he believed could facilitate the coconspirator’s travel to Pakistanto join the LeT.
Unbeknownst to Sewell and the coconspirator, the facilitatorwas an undercover FBI agent.
Sewell and the coconspirator discussed what thecoconspirator should say to the undercover agent who posed as the facilitator,in order to gain the facilitator’s trust and be permitted to join the LeT.
He also contacted the facilitator to vouch for the coconspirator’sauthenticity and told both of them that he would kill the co-conspirator if heturned out to be a spy.
The co-conspirator then contacted the facilitator and madearrangements to travel to Pakistan.
In February, Sewell was charged by the FBI with using socialmedia to recruit people on behalf of the LeT and send them to Pakistan fortraining.