The James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia. Read more THOMAS HENGGE / Staff Photographer

by Chris Palmer Published Sept. 11, 2025, 2:09 p.m. ET

A Liberian immigrant who spent years living in the Philadelphia region was sentenced Thursday to just under five years in prison after a federal judge ruled that he had lied on immigration documents to conceal his murderous past as a high-ranking rebel general who oversaw executions, beatings, and other atrocities during one of his country’s civil wars.

Laye Sekou Camara, 47, of Atlantic County, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to relatively routine immigration fraud charges, admitting that he’d provided incorrect information on paperwork as he sought to enter the United States more than a decade ago.

But prosecutors

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