NY businessman charged with financing terrorism

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York businessman was indicted on terrorism charges on Friday, accused of transferring $152,000 to fund the purchase of equipment for use in a militant training camp in Afghanistan.

Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari was charged with financing terrorism and with money laundering for accepting an unspecified payment to secretly transfer $152,000 for equipment including night-vision goggles in the second half of 2006, said an indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

One such transfer by Alishtari, also known as Michael Mixon, included $25,000 from a New York bank account to a bank account in Montreal, Canada, the indictment said.

Alishtari, 53, a U.S. citizen born in the United States, was arrested on Thursday in Manhattan and detained after a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Friday, authorities said.

He was also charged with wire fraud for running an investment program called the "Flat Electronic Data Interchange" between 1998 and 2004, according to the indictment. It attracted millions of dollars in investments by falsely promising high rates of return, the indictment said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum combined sentence of 95 years in prison.

A lawyer for Alishtari could not be immediately reached.