2 plead guilty in terror-funding case

Associated Press

TOLEDO

A married couple pleaded guilty Monday to charges that they plotted to ship money to a Mideast terrorist group, a plea deal that spares them from potential life sentences.

Hor and Amera Akl planned for a year to send up to $1 million for Hezbollah, the Lebanese group the U.S. government lists as a terrorist organization and blames for numerous attacks on Israel, federal prosecutors said.

An FBI informant provided them with $200,000 for the first shipment that was to be hidden in an SUV before they were arrested last June, the government said.

The Akls, dual citizens of the United States and Lebanon, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Hor Akl also pleaded guilty to money laundering, bankruptcy fraud and perjury charges.