Federal prosecutors indicted eight people associated with the University of Michigan on Wednesday, alleging they ran a coordinated campaign of threats, vandalism, and intimidation to force the university and others to cut ties with Israel. Targets included university leaders, law enforcement, businesses, and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jerome Gorgon was direct.
“In America, we rule by law not by fear. These alleged threats and attempts to terrorize government officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation are anti-American. We will counter intimidation with justice.”
The defendants range in age from 21 to 28, and include current or former University of Michigan students, employees, and affiliates. The DOJ said the campaign began after Oct. 7, 2023, and was driven by the defendants' belief that the university financially supported Israel. When divestment demands went unmet, the group escalated to what they called "autonomous actions": occupying buildings, defacing property, and disrupting campus events.
FBI Detroit's Jennifer Runyan put it plainly in a statement.
“No one has the right to threaten, intimidate, and coerce public officials, law enforcement officers, community institutions, or their families. In the dead of night, masked and hooded defendants allegedly threw noxious chemicals through the windows of families’ homes and taped demand letters to their front doors. At every step they attempted to cover their tracks and delete evidence of their crimes.”
The indictment quotes an encrypted chat from May 21, 2024, in which Feyock and Korkaya, then a medical student, agreed to "kill," "torment," and "terrorize" their targets and families. Korkaya said one victim's "entire family" was on his "hit list," and separately wrote that he planned to become the victim's doctor and "poison her a— slowly."
“We need people following [victim] / get into that house then burn it down.”
Feyock also said they should "get" the kids of two victims.
Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly traveled at night to homes and businesses, defaced them with messages and symbols, broke windows, caulked doors shut, bike-locked entryways, and threw glass jars filled with butyric acid and dye into homes.
The symbols included inverted triangles, which Hamas uses in military videos to mark targets for death, according to the DOJ press release. Prosecutors said the red handprints referenced the Ramallah lynching of 2000. Graffiti included "INTIFADA" and "DIVEST NOW." The group posted photos of the damage online with warnings: "you cannot hide" and "we only come back stronger"
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrests early Wednesday in a multi-state operation across Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. He said in a statement to Fox News Digital:
“They vandalized property, left threatening messages, and even violently attacked homes while children slept inside.”
Federal Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti ordered the defendants held until a Friday hearing. Outside the courthouse, supporters of the defendants protested the arrests and compared the FBI to the Ku Klux Klan. Inside, prosecutors were describing an alleged campaign involving threats against families, vandalized homes, witness intimidation, and discussions about poisoning victims. One University of Michigan lecturer who came to show solidarity called the charges a First Amendment issue. UM Regent Sarah Hubbard, whose home had been surrounded with mock body bags by protesters in May 2024, saw it differently. She retweeted Patel's announcement and thanked law enforcement.
The indictment also charges Zainab Hakim and Feyock with witness intimidation. Prosecutors said the two allegedly planned to confront a University of Michigan student they believed might be cooperating with federal authorities.
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According to the DOJ, Hakim warned that the student was “going to send us to federal prison,” while Feyock allegedly said the student “has to be neutralized.”
Sepulveda faces an additional charge of destruction of property to prevent seizure. Prosecutors said he and Zou threw glass jars of blue liquid and food compost through the provost's home's window, and spray-painted it with inverted red triangles and "Free Palestine." When law enforcement later came to execute a search warrant, Sepulveda allegedly wiped his phone and laptop.
Sentencing exposure: up to five years for conspiracy to transmit threats, up to 20 years for witness tampering, and up to five years for destruction of property.
Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The government has to make its case in court.
What prosecutors laid out Wednesday: family homes targeted at night, broken windows, noxious chemicals, demand letters, threats against children. All of it will now be tested there.
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