• Purported anti-Muslim film producer ordered jailed in probation case

    A judge will decide whether or not Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the producer behind the 'Innocence of Muslims' film, violated the terms of his 2010 conviction on bank fraud charges. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports.

    By NBC News staff and NBCLosAngeles.com

    Updated at 12:26 a.m. ET: A federal judge on Thursday determined a California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that inflamed parts of the Middle East is a flight risk and ordered him detained.


    The judge ordered Nakoula Basseley Nakoula to remain in custody until a hearing to determine whether he violated the terms of his probation, stemming from a conviction on federal fraud charges, NBC News reported.

    "The court has a lack of trust in the defendant at this time," Chief Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal said in making the ruling, citing a pattern of deception and the possibility Nakoula was a flight risk.

    He had eight probation violations, including lying to his probation officers and using aliases, and he might face new charges that carry a maximum two-year prison term, authorities said. Nakoula will remain behind bars until another hearing where a judge will rule if he broke the terms of his probation.

    Court records show that Nakoula was convicted on federal fraud charges in Los Angeles in 2010. Among the conditions of his probation, Nakoula was barred from using "any online service at any location" without the prior approval of his probation officer, according to a copy of court records in the case.

    MORE: Actors Plan to Sue Filmmaker | Coptic Leaders Denounce Film

    A 14-minute trailer for the film "Innocence of Muslims" was posted on YouTube in July, leading to protests around the Middle East. The trailer depicts Muhammad as a womanizer, religious fraud and child molester.

    Violence broke out Sept. 11 and has spread since, killing dozens, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya. Nakoula went into hiding after he was identified as the man behind the trailer, the Associated Press reported.

    Slideshow: Anger over film spreads throughout Muslim world

    Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

    Protests ignited by a controversial film that ridicules Islam's Prophet Muhammad spread throughout Muslim world.

    Launch slideshow

    Earlier this month, federal law enforcement officials opened an investigation into whether Nakoula violated his probation on those fraud charges in his efforts to promote the movie, an official told NBC News.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

    The official emphasized that the probe of Nakoula relates only to whether he violated his probation order — not into the content of the inflammatory movie. "This is not an investigation of the film," the official said, or in any way intended to infringe on his "First Amendment rights."

    A self-described Coptic Christian who was born in Egypt, Nakoula is said to go by the pseudonym Sam Bassiel. That moniker that caused widespread confusion when the film was first released earlier this month when someone associated with the film said that the producer was an Israeli Jew with that name.

    Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned 

    Others have disputed that the video was the cause of the violence in Libya. On Wednesday, Libyan President Mohammed Magarief told NBC News' Ann Curry that the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya there were carefully planned terrorist events, not the actions of a mob angry about the video.

    In an interview with NBC's Ann Curry, Libya's president Mohammed Magarief said there's 'no doubt' the attack that killed four Americans in Libya was preplanned, and not a result of the controversial anti-Islam movie that sparked violent protests.

    NBC Los Angeles, NBC News' Olivia Santini, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

     

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  • Suspected anti-Islam filmmaker questioned by federal probation officers

    An ex-con named Nakoula Bessaly Nakoula was escorted from his Cerritos, Calif., home to answer questions about his role in a controversial anti-Islam film. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

    By NBC News and wire services

    Updated at 10 a.m. ET: A man purported to be a filmmaker involved with the anti-Islam video sparking violent unrest in the Middle East and North Africa was escorted by deputies from his Cerritos, Calif., home shortly after midnight Saturday morning, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.

    Media and law enforcement had been staking out the home at the end of a cul de sac in the Southern California city for about 48 hours when Nakoula Besseley Nakoula emerged wearing a coat, hat, scarf and glasses.

    L.A. County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore confirmed to NBCLA that Nakoula, 55, was taken to the Cerritos sheriff’s station for interviewing by federal probation officers aimed at determining whether he violated the terms of his 5-year probation by uploading a video to the Internet.

    "We are in an assist mode," he said.

    Whitmore added that Nakoula, who has denied involvement in the film in a phone call to his Coptic Christian bishop, agreed to the interview prior to the deputies arriving at his home, that the move was "entirely voluntary" and the man was "very cooperative."

    Deputies pulled up to the home around midnight, according to witnesses. The group left the home through the side gate because the front door was not working, Whitmore said. NBCLA went to the home earlier this week and saw the front door was missing a knob.

    International protesters have cited the 15-minute video posted on the Internet called "The Innocence of Muslims" as a catalyst for their demonstrations in countries such as Libya, Tunisia and Egypt.

    Read more on NBCLosAngeles.com

    They say the piece is insulting to their religion as it depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a child molester and a thug. In Islam, all images of Muhammad are prohibited, let alone negative ones.

    Nakoula has told the Associated Press he was not the director on the film, but rather a logistics manager. The film's mystery producer has been said to go by the pseudonym Sam Bacile.

    A telephone number said to belong to Bacile, given to Reuters by U.S.-based Coptic Christian activist Morris Sadek who said he had promoted the film, was later traced back to a person who shares the Nakoula residence. 

    NBC's Mike Taibbi has more on three men suspected of producing an anti-Islam film that is sparking outrage around the globe.

    Nakoula reportedly requested deputies step up patrols around his home Wednesday after media descended on the area. At the time, Whitmore told reporters there had been no disturbance or crime.

    Related: At least 7 reported killed in protests over anti-Islamic video
    Related: Two US troops killed at Afghan camp where Prince Harry is based

    Early reports suggested the film prompted the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that killed 14 people, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, two former Navy SEALS who were providing security for Stevens, and information management officer Sean Smith.

    But U.S. officials are also probing the possibility that Wednesday’s attack was planned and timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

    A federal grand jury indictment in February 2009 charged Nakoula in an alleged bank fraud conspiracy. The indictment accused him and others of fraudulently obtaining the identities and Social Security numbers of bank customers at Wells Fargo and withdrawing $860 from bank branches in Cerritos, Artesia and Norwalk.

    Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison, but was released early. The terms of his parole included being barred from assuming aliases and using computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer. 

    Many records in the case remain sealed, but prosecutors sought a longer prison term and noted that he misused some of his own relatives' identities to open 600 fraudulent credit accounts.

    Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons confirmed that Nakoula also served a year in jail after pleading guilty to possession of meth with the intent to manufacture in 1997.

    U.S. officials have said authorities were not investigating the film project itself, and that even if it was inflammatory or led to violence, simply producing it cannot be considered a crime in the United States, which has strong free speech laws. 

    It could be difficult to establish a probation violation case against Nakoula. In the federal court system, the conditions of supervised release are geared toward the offense for which a defendant was found guilty and imprisoned.

    In Nakoula's case, the offense was bank fraud. His no contest plea was to charges of setting up fraudulent bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, depositing checks from those accounts into other phony accounts and then withdrawing the illicit funds from ATM machines.

    While it was unclear what might have provoked authorities' interest, the filmmaker's use of a false identity and his access to the Internet through computers could be at issue, according to experts in cyber law and the federal probation system. Nakoula, who told the AP that he was logistics manager for the film, was under requirements to provide authorities with records of all his bank and business accounts. 

    There are indications that "Innocence of Muslims" may have already been under way as a film project when Nakoula was arrested. A casting call for actors and crew for a film called "Desert Warrior" ran in Backstage magazine, based in Los Angeles and New York, in May and June 2009. The casting call described the film project as a "historical Arabian Desert adventure" and listed a "Sam Bassiel" as producer.

    One notice identified "Pharaoh Voice Inc."as the film's production company. California state records show Pharaoh Voice was incorporated in September 2007 by a "Youssef M. Basseley." The principal address for Pharaoh Voice in Hawaiian Gardens, a southern California community, is the same location where Nakoula lived until 2008, according to state records.

    Nakoula Besseley Nakoula, suspected of producing a recent anti-Islam film, is taken in for questioning in Cerritos, Calif. MSNBC's Alex Witt and MSNBC contributor Ret. Col. Jack Jacobs discuss.

    During an interview with AP, Nakoula denied that he was Sam Bacile, but acknowledged knowing him. 

    Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor, said whether Nakoula is sent back to jail over potential probation violations linked to the film, such as accessing the Internet, was a subjective decision up to an individual judge.

    "Federal judges are gods in their own courtrooms, it varies so much in who they are," he said, noting such a move would be based on his conduct not on the content of the film. 

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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