Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis convicted Alaa Al-Sadawi, 33, Imam of a Brooklyn mosque, of smuggling $659,000 out of John F. Kennedy airport. The incident took place on April 30, 2002, when Sadawi was en route to Egypt along with his father. Both men are U.S. citizens.

However, Al-Sadawi's 71-year-old father was acquitted of the plot to dodge U.S. currency laws. Carrying more than $10,000 out of the country without notifying U.S. authorities is a felony.

Defense lawyers argued that Al-Sadawi was tricked by a fellow Egyptian who delivered the money stuffed in a suitcase to Al-Sadawi’s father at the airport as they were about to board a Cairo-bound flight.

Al-Sadawi faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 29. The government indicated that it was not a terrorist case.