In the months after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 , FBI agents conducted surveillance of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and uncovered detailed information about his alleged use of prostitutes , according to newly released FBI documents . The information is contained in documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch , a conservative legal group . Al-Awlaki lived in a Washington suburb at the time of the terror attacks and for several months afterward . The FBI documents say he visited prostitutes at least seven times and paid up to $ 400 for sex . The documents show the cleric paid a total of $ 2,320 for the visits and always paid in cash . Al-Awlaki 's use of prostitutes has been reported previously , but the FBI documents show that agents interviewed the escorts , obtained detailed information about the encounters , and the FBI even reviewed the possible legal charges that might be brought against him . One prostitute said al-Awlaki visited her on February 4 , 2002 , and she first peered out at him through a peephole in the hotel room door . When interviewed by the FBI a day later , she said she thought al-Awlaki `` looked like Osama bin Laden . '' American-born radical cleric understood the West . The documents obtained by Judicial Watch also include some handwritten surveillance reports by FBI agents . The papers show nothing incriminating and merely recount his visits to stores , to his mosque and other locations . Al-Awlaki was killed in Yemen by a U.S. missile strike in September 2011 . By that time , U.S. officials said , he had become a key member of the terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was involved in two failed terror plots against the United States . One was the 2009 scheme to explode a bomb hidden in an operative 's underwear on a U.S.-bound airliner and the other was a 2010 plot involving bombs hidden in printers on cargo planes . Al-Awlaki : al Qaeda 's rock star no more . There have been questions for years about when al-Awlaki became radicalized . One largely redacted document from February 4 , 2002 , contained abbreviated language indicating that al-Awlaki was a member of a terrorist organization and should be approached with caution . The rest of the document 's message was not provided , but that item and other documents make it clear he was under investigation . Judicial Watch noted that al-Awlaki spoke at a Pentagon luncheon the next day . The 9/11 Commission report said al-Awlaki had contact with two of the hijackers -- Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar -- the year before the attacks when he served as an imam at a San Diego mosque . He also may have had contact with one of those men and a third hijacker , Hani Hanjour , when he served at a mosque in Falls Church , Virginia , in 2001 . A December 2006 FBI memo that was part of the FOIA release said the cleric was interviewed in September 2001 after the terror attacks and recognized a picture of one of the hijackers . But the memo said al-Awlaki was never thoroughly questioned about his relationship with any of the hijackers , and `` their exact relationship remains unclear . '' The FBI did not respond to inquiries about the documents . Read more : From the grave , al-Awlaki inspiring new generation of terrorists .
FBI was monitoring U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 . Al-Awlaki visited prostitutes , spending more than $ 2,000 , new released papers say . Cleric knew several 9/11 hijackers , possibly while working as an imam in San Diego . The FBI released the documents in response to a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit .