Overview

• James Cromitie, a man convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting, has been ordered to be released from prison by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon.
• Judge McMahon criticized the FBI for relying on an 'unsavory' confidential informant, Shaheed Hussain, to invent a conspiracy to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes.
• Cromitie, along with his three co-defendants known as the Newburgh Four, were convicted of terrorism charges in 2010. They have all now been granted compassionate release.
• The judge's scathing ruling stated that the FBI invented the conspiracy and identified the targets, arguing that Cromitie and his co-defendants could not have devised such a plot on their own.
• Shaheed Hussain, the informant, has been criticized for years by civil liberties groups. He also worked with the FBI on a sting that targeted an Albany, New York pizza shop owner and an imam, both of whom were convicted of money laundering and conspiring to aid a terrorist group.