Overview
- Prosecutors say Merchant met in a Queens hotel in June 2024, used a napkin and a vape to illustrate an attack at a political event, and discussed targeting President Trump.
- The government alleges he delivered a $5,000 advance to two supposed contract killers who were actually FBI agents arranged through a cooperating source.
- The confidential informant, testifying under the alias Nadeem Ali, told jurors he worked with the FBI and received about $20,000 for his assistance.
- Merchant has pleaded not guilty to murder-for-hire and attempting to commit terrorism transcending national boundaries, offenses that carry a potential life sentence.
- Prosecutors cite alleged links to Iran as part of the motive, while the defense portrays him as a businessman and raises entrapment and sufficiency-of-evidence arguments as the trial continues into March.