A Coral Springs man who was arrested last year is facing added federal charges after he allegedly planned to detonate a bomb at the New York Stock Exchange, federal prosecutors said.
Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, was initially facing one count of attempted use of an explosive to damage or destroy a building used in interstate or foreign commerce after his arrest late last year. Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday he has now been arraigned on a total of six charges, including possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.
The FBI began investigation Yener, who was homeless, in February 2024 after receiving a tip that he kept “bombmaking schematics” in an unlocked storage unit in Coral Springs, according to a criminal complaint.
He consented to the FBI searching the unit, where they found sketches and materials that could be used to make an improvised explosive. As the investigation continued, undercover FBI employees and a confidential source communicated with Yener.
Yener had made internet searches, dating back to 2017, about bombmaking, and investigators when searching his cellphones found “numerous AI-generated images and videos depicting CSAM,” which stands for child sexual abuse material, prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday.
Multiple undercover FBI employees met in Sunrise with Yener last October, a meeting that he believed was of “leaders of various like-minded groups” to discuss “upcoming plots” and how to coordinate them, according to the complaint. Yener said at the meeting he wanted to build and detonate an improvised explosive outside of the New York Stock Exchange before Thanksgiving.
Last fall, Yener successfully built a remote trigger for an explosive and recorded a video statement of himself that he said would be sent to the media after the attack was carried out, according to the criminal complaint, calling the attack “just the beginning of a new era” and encouraging others to join his cause.
“Yener anticipated catastrophic effects from the explosion,” federal prosecutors said Wednesday. “During this same period, Yener repeatedly voiced his intent to murder law enforcement agents who searched his storage unit.”
In total, Yener is facing charges of attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempt to use an explosive, three counts of threatening to assault and murder a federal law enforcement officer and possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.