(San Antonio Express-News) Federal prosecutors say San Antonio businessman Imad Eddin Wadi was willing to send $450,000 to arm insurgents in Syria, whom the U.S. deemed terrorists.
But the Syrian native’s defense lawyers said that it was just puffery — that Wadi was trying to please an “investor” who promised to pump $9 million into Wadi’s beef business on the condition that $450,000 go to the fighters. The investor turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. Wadi contends he was tricked into committing crimes that, otherwise, would not have crossed his mind.
Jurors in Wadi’s terrorism trial in San Antonio federal court, however, sided with the U.S. government.
On Thursday, they took less than two hours to convict Wadi on three charges, including conspiracy to kill, kidnap or injure in a foreign country and conspiracy to provide support to terrorist organizations.
