Fla. Man Arrested for Plotting to Bomb New York Stock Exchange Ahead of Thanksgiving, Say Officials

Mar. 15, 2025

A photo of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters.Photo:Getty

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A Florida resident has been arrested for allegedly planning to plant a bomb in New York City ahead of theThanksgivingholiday.

The FBI said in a criminal complaint that it began investigating Yener in February after “receiving a tip” that he had been “storing bombmaking schematics in an unlocked storage unit,” according to the release.

A photo of the New York Stock Exchange.Getty

Yener further met up with an undercover FBI employees, whom he believed to be a part of “an anti-government militia,” and told one of them about his “desire” to join the militia and “construct an explosive device” in June.

“After meeting an FBI undercover employee… Yener indicated he wanted to target a business located in New York City the week before Thanksgiving,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida said in its release. “His stated motivation for bombing the business was to attain a ‘reboot’ and/or ‘reset’ of the United States government.”

The Fla. resident “constructed a remote trigger for the explosive device” and “conducted research on where to plant the bomb,” officials said. He also “tasked” undercover FBI employees with obtaining the “explosive element for the device,” surveilling the business, and getting photos of the targeted building “to identify the precise location for detonating the explosive device.”

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An aerial view of the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor.Getty

“The Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up,” he told undercover agents, reported AP.

The affidavit added that he “planned on wearing a disguise” and indicated he wanted to plant the explosive “outside the business,” according to CBS News. Yener also recorded a message to be delivered to the press that outlined his reasons for the attack, reported the BBC.

“Yener anticipated the impact of the explosion would be ‘like a small nuke went off’ and that ‘[a]nything outside’ the building ‘will be wiped out’ and ‘anything inside there would be killed,’ ” officials said in their release.

Yener appeared in court on the day of his arrest and will remain detained while he awaits trial.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for a copy of the criminal complaint.

source: people.com