Moderate Rebels Sold Steven Sotloff to Islamic State, Says Family Spokesman

The relatives of Steven Sotloff believe that moderate rebels sold the U.S. journalist to the militant group for $50,000, a spokesman for the family, Barak Barfi, told CNN.

Sotloff's family got information from sources on the ground that a member of a moderate rebel group contacted Islamic State, Barfi told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," on Monday.

"Somebody at the border crossing made a phone call to ISIS, and they set up a fake checkpoint with many people," Barfi said. "Steve and his people that he went in with could not escape," he said, reports CNN.

Barfi said that the informer was one among the supposedly moderate rebels that the U.S. administration wants to support.

The rebels got an amount between $25,000 and $50,000 for revealing Sotloff's location, he said.

Barfi also said that he spoke to his friend Sotloff minutes before he was kidnapped. Sotloff had called him and told him that he was inside Syria.

According to Barfi, the militants handed over Sotloff to the Islamic State because his name figured in a list of people responsible for the bombing of a hospital.  However, this misinformation was spread by some activists, Barfi said, reports CNN.

He said that the relationship between the Sotloff's family and the White House was very strained.

Elaborating further, he said that the family does not believe that the White House gave them the assistance they needed.

Barfi also disapproved the release of information by the government about the unsuccessful U.S. commando raid that tried to free Foley, Sotloff and others.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Josh Earnest has denied the claims of Barfi that Sotloff was sold to the Islamic State by the moderate rebels.

"As it relates to the specifics of this matter, based on the information that has been provided to me, I don't believe that is accurate, but I do know at the same time that this is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation," said Earnest. "They are looking into all aspects of this, including how Mr. Sotloff may have come into the hands of ISIL (ISIS)," he said, reports NBC News.

Last week the Islamic State released the grisly video showing the execution of Steven Sotloff, less than three weeks after they released a similar video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley.