Uzbek National Sentenced for Making False Statements

BOSTON — Sidikjon Mamadjonov, 37, a citizen of Uzbekistan, was sentenced July 10 to one month of imprisonment, time already served, and one year of supervised release for making false statements to federal law enforcement and in immigration proceedings after an investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), of which Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is a member.

HSI New England Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and Special Agent in Charge Robert Fuller of the FBI’s New Haven Division made the announcement.

According to the evidence presented during his trial, Mamadjonov immigrated to the United States in February 2009; lived in New Britain, Connecticut; and became a lawful permanent resident in September 2010. On May 27, 2013, Mamadjonov departed the United States on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. During or before this trip, he learned that his brother, Saidjon Mamadjonov, had been killed while fighting in the civil war in Syria. Sidikjon Mamadjonov returned to the United States on June 11, 2013. In early July 2013, he received a DHL package that contained an iPhone 4. On the phone were several videos and photographs depicting Saidjon in Syria, including videos of Saidjon cleaning weapons in military dress while armed with a weapon, and a photograph of Saidjon after he was killed.

During three interviews with FBI special agents in 2014, Mamadjonov responded to questions about his brother and the trip he took to Turkey in 2013. Mamadjonov made multiple false statements, including that his brother was alive and living in Turkey or Dubai, that he met with his brother while he was in Turkey in 2013, and that his brother sent him a package after he returned from his trip.

In August 2016, Mamadjonov told FBI special agents that he had received a package from Saidjon, did not know Saidjon’s whereabouts, had not overheard any discussions of Uzbeks in the United States going to Syria to fight, and was not aware of any Uzbeks traveling to Syria. At that time, Sidikjon knew that Saidjon was an Uzbek who had traveled from the United States to Syria and had died while fighting in the civil war, and that he died prior to the date the package was sent.

On Oct. 27, 2016, in an interview with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer regarding his application for naturalization, which he had submitted in September 2014, Mamadjonov again provided false statements about his brother and whether he had previously lied to the FBI.

FBI agents arrested Mamadjonov on Dec. 22, 2017.

On March 7, 2023, a jury found Mamadjonov guilty of three counts of making a false statement to law enforcement and one count of making a false swearing in an immigration matter.

This matter was investigated by the FBI’s JTTF, HSI New England’s New Haven Resident Agent in Charge office, the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division, USCIS, the New Britain Police Department and the Hartford Police Department.

HSI has special agents assigned across the United States to the FBI’s JTTFs. JTTFs are multijurisdictional task forces that include federal, state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement partners acting as an integrated force to combat terrorism on a national and international scale. HSI participates in a significant percentage of JTTF disruptions of terrorist-related activity each year and has become one of the largest and most productive contributors to the JTTF.