ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Court papers show 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.
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. He pleaded guilty in June.
In court papers, El-Khalifi's lawyers say 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.
