St. Louis, MO - The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Abdi Mahdi Hussein was sentenced to three years probation and 40 hours of community service for conspiracy to structure overseas financial transactions.

According to court documents, beginning in April 2008, Hussein worked at Qaran Financial Express (QFE), a domestic financial institution in Minnesota. His duties included transferring money from people inside the United States to others overseas. In 2008 and 2009, Hussein and co-defendant Mohamud Yusuf structured and transferred $21,000 to an individual located in Kenya. Hussein and Yusuf structured the transactions by dividing the transfers into small amounts and using false names as the individual who purportedly sent the money. To conceal their involvement in the transactions, Yusuf and Hussein evaded regulatory reporting requirements by dividing the transfer into separate transfers of less than $3,000 each, amounts that were below the threshold which would have required Hussein and QFE to identify Yusuf in its record keeping as the sender of the money.

"Abdi Hussein intentionally violated federal law by helping Mohamud Yusuf avoid detection," said Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI-St. Louis Division. "Hussein intentionally wired the money from Yusuf in small enough increments to circumvent record keeping and documentation requirements."

ABDI MAHDI HUSSEIN pled guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to structure overseas financial transactions on January 10, 2012, and appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Henry E. Autrey.

Co-defendant Mohamud Yusuf pled guilty in November to international terrorism charges and is awaiting sentencing. Hussein was not charged with any terrorism offense and was not alleged to have knowingly been involved in terrorism activities with Yusuf or others.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with
task force agencies. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew Drake and Howard Marcus are
handling the case.