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STORY: :: U.S. prosecutors charge two white supremacist leaders with using Telegram to incite attacks on minorities

:: September 9, 2024

:: Washington, D.C.

:: Phillip A. Talbert, U.S. Attorney, The Eastern District of California

"The indictment charges in 15 counts that Humber and Allison conspired to solicit others to commit hate crimes against black people, Jewish people, nonwhite immigrants and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, solicit others to murder federal officials, specifically a United States senator, a United States district judge and a United States attorney."

:: Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division, U.S. Justice Department

"Humber and Allison disseminated instructional manuals and videos to equip 'Terrorgram' users to carry out the most lethal and effective attacks, including an instruction video called How to Make a Letter Bomb."

:: Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Justice Department

"As the indictment lays out, defendants use the Internet platform Telegram to post messages promoting their white supremacist accelerationism."

"Hate crimes fueled by bigotry and white supremacy and amplified by the weaponization of digital messaging platforms are on the rise and have no place in our society."

The group, dubbed "The Terrorgram Collective," used the site to celebrate white supremacist attacks around the world and solicit racially motivated violence, prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Sacramento, California.

Dallas Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Matthew Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho, each face 15 criminal counts, including soliciting hate crimes and conspiring to provide material support to terrorism. The two were in custody, officials said; it was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

The most serious charges carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

The group's targets also included U.S. government officials and critical infrastructure sites, with an overall goal of causing societal collapse in the United States, U.S. Justice Department officials said during an online news conference.

Humber and Allison helped create and promote a document that sought to justify the group's ideology and included detailed instructions on carrying out terror attacks, including how to build bombs, according to the indictment.

The pair also collaborated on a list of "high-value" targets for assassination that included a sitting U.S. senator and a federal judge who were viewed as enemies of the white supremacist cause, prosecutors alleged.

Humber and Allison became leaders of the group in 2022, helping oversee a network of Telegram channels and group chats that offered support for users to commit white supremacist violence, according to the indictment.

The messaging app has been under scrutiny after its founder, Russian-born Pavel Durov, was detained in France last month as part of an investigation related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions associated with the app.

A Telegram spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment on the indictment.