Austrian to plead guilty to plotting terror attack on Taylor Swift concert

Crime Austrian to plead guilty to plotting ISIS-linked terror attack on Taylor Swift concert, his attorney says Updated on: April 28, 2026 / 6:30 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google The trial of a man accused of pledging allegiance to ISIS and plotting to attack one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago has begun in Austria.The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three performances in August 2024. The singer's fans, known as Swifties, who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance in her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs. Beran A. is lead into the hearing room by correctional and police officers on the first day of the Taylor Swift concert plot trial at Regional Court Wiener Neustadt on April 28, 2026 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Christian Bruna / Getty Images The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A., in line with Austrian privacy rules, faces charges including terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.He is being tried alongside Arda K., whose full name also has not been made public. They, along with a third man, planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 in the name of ISIS. Beran A. and Arda K. never carried out their attacks.Beran A.'s defense attorney, Anna Mair, told The Associated Press on Monday that her client plans to plead guilty to most of the charges but did not specify which ones. Only Beran A. is charged in connection with the Taylor Swift plot.He allegedly planned to target onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium – up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue – with knives or homemade explosives. The suspect hoped to "kill as many people as possible," authorities said in 2024. The U.S. provided intelligence that led to the arrests. A screen displays a photo of a man arrested in connection with an Islamist attack plot that caused the cancellation of the Vienna leg of a tour by American mega-star Taylor Swift, on the sidelines of a press conference on August 8, 2024 at the Foreign Ministy in Vienna, Austria. ROLAND SCHLAGER/APA/AFP via Getty Images "They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I am sure, many Americans — and were quite advanced in this," CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said a few weeks after the arrests. "The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them (with) information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do." Beran A. also allegedly networked with other ISIS members ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors say they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance. In addition, he swore allegiance to the militant group.Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024 and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were scheduled to begin the next day.Swift learned of the bomb plot while on a plane flying to Austria, according to her Eras Tour documentary."Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating," Swift wrote in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks later. "The…

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