Metro

Man admits he lied to FBI to frame associates as terrorists

A man who lied to the FBI to frame several associates as a terrorists pleaded guilty Thursday to making false statements to officials.

Syed Omair Ali, 25, of Queens, admitted that he contacted the FBI last May to alert them to an effort underway to launch a terror attack against New York City with the help of radical operatives based in Pakistan.

Ali falsely told agents that these associates had “ties with the tribal guys back in Karachi, Pakistan,” and were planning to travel there to be trained in insurgency tactics and then return to New York to commit a terror strike.

He also admitted to misleading the FBI by telling agents that one of the associates had discussed attacking Times Square “since it would likely inflict the greatest number of casualties.”

Ali explained at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court that after contacting the FBI last spring, he met with agents on a number of occasions over the summer and fall and continued to provide false information against his former associates.

After Ali’s accusations began to unravel upon closer scrutiny, agents gave Ali a lie detector test which he failed.

When he eventually confessed to making up all of the allegations against his former associates, Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged him with lying to officials.

Ali, who is a U.S. citizen, did not answer when Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. asked what his motivation was in leveling the false charges against the associates, who officials say have no link whatsoever to terrorism.

A dispute over money formed part of his motive, according to people familiar with the case.

Ali faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced.

mmaddux@nypost.com