LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images
- A member of the far-right extremist Boogaloo Bois group pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide weapons to Hamas.
- Michael Solomon's co-defendant Benjamin Ryan Teeter pleaded guilty in December.
- The two were actually negotiating with an FBI informant and eventually an undercover FBI agent.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A second member of the far-right extremist Boogaloo Bois group pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a conspiracy charge to provide material support and weapons to what he thought was Hamas, a Palestinian political party and a foreign terrorist organization, as designated by the US.
At a US District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Michael Solomon, 31, pleaded guilty to one charge. His co-defendant Benjamin Ryan Teeter pleaded guilty in December.
The FBI's investigation into the group started back in May 2020.
According to court documents, the FBI began investigating Teeter and Solomon when an undercover confidential source tipped them off, alerting them that the Boogaloo Bois sought to employ themselves as mercenaries for Hamas in order to raise money for a training compound, and later sell specialized weapons to the group.
The source recorded conversations with the two, in which Teeter said that the anti-government group and Hamas shared similar goals, according to the Justice Department. Solomon reportedly exchanged encrypted text messages with Teeter confirming the operation.
A sentencing date has not yet been set; Teeter could face up to 20 years on a felony charge, and now, so could Solomon.
With the undercover agent and an informant, Teeter and Solomon negotiated to sell devices that modify semi-automatic weapons into illegal machine guns, according to DOJ charges.
Teeter and Solomon sold batches of the weapon accessories to the undercover agent and informant, allegedly believing that the eventually modified weapons would be used by Hamas to target Israeli and American military personnel abroad, according to prosecutors.
In September, Hamas publicly denounced the FBI sting on Teeter and Solomon and said that they did not want to be associated with the extreme goals of the Boogaloo Bois.
Teeter and Solomon were part of a sub-division of the Boogaloo Bois who called themselves the "Boojahideen."
"This case highlights the real threat posed by domestic violent extremists who self-radicalize and threaten to violently attack others opposed to their views, with little or no warning," Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI's Minneapolis field office, said in December.
At a court appearance in December, Teeter acknowledged that he thought the materials would be used by Hamas' paramilitary group, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
"I mean, why would someone buy suppressors if they weren't going to deliver them to a militant wing?" he said.
In court, Teeter added that he and Solomon hoped Hamas would help them "exit the country and open a training facility" for the Boogaloo Bois.