ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An FBI sting operation promised “martyrdom payments” of up to $1,000 a month to a Moroccan immigrant who eventually volunteered to kill himself in a plot to bomb the U.S. Capitol, according to court papers.
Twenty-nine-year-old Amine El-Khalifi, who was living in Alexandria until the time of his arrest in February, will be sentenced in federal court in Alexandria on Friday.
In court papers, El-Khalifi’s lawyers said their client received more than $5,700 in living expenses from undercover FBI agents during the six-month investigation. He was also promised that his parents would receive what the lawyers describe as “martyrdom payments” of up to $1,000 a month after he completed the attack.
El-Khalifi’s plea deal requires a sentence of at least 25 years. His lawyers are asking for the minimum.
