An Austrian has pleaded guilty to planning an ISIS-linked terror attack at a Taylor Swift concert

Wiener Neustadt, Austria – A man accused of pledging allegiance to her ISIS and planning to attack one of the famous singer Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna almost two years ago he pleaded guilty as the trial began on Tuesday, Austrian media reported.

The plot was foiled, but the Austrian authorities he still canceled three of Swift’s concerts in August 2024. The singer’s fans, known as Swifties, who had flown to Austria from all over the world to attend her record-breaking Eras Tour were devastated, but they rallied to make Vienna a city-wide trading post for friendship rings and bracelets.

The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A., in accordance with Austrian privacy laws, faced charges including terrorism and membership of a terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and has been in custody since August 2024.

The Vienna plot compared a 2017 fatal bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, 22 people died. The bomb was detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans left, making it the deadliest attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.

Anna Mair, his lawyer, said his client pleaded guilty to charges related to the concert plot.

“Yes, he’s very sorry for everything,” Mair said outside court. “It is because of the long time he has been in prison that he says it was a big mistake in his life.”

He is on trial along with Arda K., whose full name has not been released. They, along with a third man, are planning simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in the year 2024 on behalf of ISIS. Beran A. and Arda K. never made their attack.

Only Beran A. was charged in connection with the Taylor Swift conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the concurrent attack.

He was said to be planning to target the crowd outside the Ernst Happel Stadium – up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue – with knives or improvised explosive devices. The suspect was hopeful “kill as many people as possible,” said authorities in 2024. The US provided the intelligence that went into the decision to cancel the concerts.

“They were planning to kill a lot – tens of thousands of people at this concert, including, I’m sure, many Americans – and they were very advanced on this,” said Deputy Director of the CIA David Cohen a few weeks after the arrest. “The Austrians were able to arrest those people because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community gave them (information) about what this ISIS-linked group was planning to do.”

Beran A. is suspected of being in contact with other ISIS members before the planned attack. Prosecutors said they discussed buying weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also wanted to buy weapons illegally in the days before the game began. In addition, he pledged allegiance to the militant group.

Authorities say they searched his house on August 7, 2024, and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were supposed to start the next day.

“The cancellation of our Vienna shows was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted on Instagram two weeks later. “The reason the decision was overturned filled me with a new sense of dread, and a huge amount of guilt because so many people had planned to come to those games.”

The case is tied to Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The trial will continue on May 12.

Prosecutors also filed terrorism-related charges against Arda K. in a case related to a planned simultaneous attack in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

The third man in the plot, Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. He was arrested and remains in pre-trial detention in Saudi Arabia, Austrian prosecutors said.

Beran A. and Arda K. did not make their plans in Turkey and UAE. Beran A. returned to Vienna and began plotting to attack Swift’s concert there.

The nearly 150-show Eras Tour, which ran from March 2023 to December 2024, spanned five continents and sold more than 10 million tickets – making it the first tour in history to surpass $1billion in ticket sales.