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May 7, 2003
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Hoda ElSaidy, age 44 and a citizen of Egypt, was arrested today on a previously sealed federal grand jury indictment charging her with one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement agents in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a).
According to the Indictment, Ms. Elsaidy knowingly and intentionally gave a false terrorism tip to agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is alleged that, during multiple interviews with the FBI including an October 15, 2002 interview, Ms. Elsaidy provided specific, initially credible and ultimately false information about an alleged terrorist "sleeper cell" operating in Monterey, California. In particular, the defendant falsely identified certain individuals as members of a terrorist sleeper cell; the defendant falsely stated that this terrorist cell was planning to carry out an attack using multiple bombs on a specific federal facility; and the defendant falsely claimed that one of the identified individuals previously conducted surveillance of this federal facility and forwarded the results of the surveillance overseas to other terrorist conspirators in exchange for $90,000. In part because the defendant provided documents and other items that initially appeared to corroborate her tip, the FBI treated the threat as specific and credible, and expended resources investigating and protecting against the threat.
Ms. ElSaidy was today arraigned on the Indictment in federal court in San Jose. United States Magistrate Richard Seeborg preliminarily detained the defendant as a flight risk. Ms. Elsaidy's next scheduled court appearance is at 11:00 a.m. on May 8, 2003, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Seeborg for further detention proceedings and identification of counsel.
The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a) is 5 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion of the Court. An indictment simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Ms. Elsaidy must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case is being handled by the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the United States Attorney's Office. Adam H. Braun is the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Anti-Terrorism Coordinator Mark Zanides at (415) 436-7167 or San Jose Branch Chief Ross Nadel at (408) 535-5035.
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