A Wakefield man recently pleaded guilty to a charge he faced after being accused of trying to help ISIS raise money when he was a teenager, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Mateo Ventura, 20, pleaded guilty on Oct. 15 to one count of concealment of financing of terrorism, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a press release not made public until Nov. 13, after the federal government reopened from a 43-day shutdown.
Ventura, who was 18 at the time, had been charged by complaint in June 2023 and a federal grand jury indicted him in October 2023.
In June 2023, Ventura gave out multiple gift cards to someone he believed was a supporter of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according to charging documents. Authorities have said Ventura began communicating with an undercover FBI informant in August 2021, before his 18th birthday, indicating he wanted to “make hijrah,” which an FBI special agent noted in the complaint references joining the fight with ISIS overseas.
The gift cards, which were intended to be sold on the dark web for less than face value, would result in profits used to support ISIS, authorities said.
Between January and May 2023, Ventura donated $705, according to the documents.
At a detention hearing in June 2023, Ventura was ordered into mental health treatment. One week later, he appeared in court again, after an incident in which he left the treatment facility, federal court records showed.
At his most recent hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper set Ventura’s sentencing for Jan. 8, 2026.
Ventura could face up to 10 years in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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