CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three men with Ohio ties have pleaded guilty to concealing thousands of dollars sent overseas to provide support to a leader of al-Qaida to carry out violent attacks.

Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, 38; Asif Ahmed Salim, 37; and Sultane Roome Salim, 43, pleaded to concealment of financing of terrorism. The Salims, who are brothers, pleaded guilty on Thursday, while Mohammad pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

The FBI said the men worked in 2009 to conceal supplying money to Anwar Al-Awlaki, the late American-born, radical Muslim cleric whose English language videos and blog posts inspired a number of Western recruits to al-Qaida., as well as acts of terrorism.

When agents began investigating the financial transactions for the money going to Awlaki, the trio lied to investigators and deleted emails related to the transactions, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

All three were charged in 2015. They struck plea agreements as their trial date approached. Jury selection was to begin next week.

Ibrahim Mohammad, who has permanent residency in the U.S., agreed to serve five years in federal prison and to be deported to India once he completes his sentence. The Salims, who are U.S. citizens, have agreed to serve sentences of up to eight years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Helmick in Toledo is expected to sentence them later this year.

Yahya Farooq Mohammad, Ibrahim Mohammad's brother, was sentenced in November to more than 27 years in federal prison after admitting to his role in this case. He also tried to orchestrate a hit on Toledo federal Judge Jack Zouhary, who initially presided over the quartet's case.

Prosecutors say Farooq Mohammad, a former engineering student at Ohio State University, traveled with two other people to Yemen in July 2009 in an attempt to meet with Awlaki.

Mohammad was unable to meet with Awlaki, so he instead gave $22,000 to one of the cleric's associates to be given to Awlaki. The money he gave included $17,000 provided by Asif Salim, who studied at Ohio State between 2000 and 2005, and Sultane Salim, who moved to the Columbus area in 2012.

Ibrahim Mohammad, who moved to Toledo in 2006 and married a U.S. citizen, helped facilitate the transfer of the money to Farooq Mohammad overseas for him to deliver to Awlaki, prosecutors say.

Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in September 2011.

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