His arrest is not related to the production, distribution and content of the film "Innocence of Muslims", which led to demonstrations and attacks on U.S. embassies around the world, including the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi.
Nakoula, who says he is a Coptic Christian, had already been arrested in the past for drug dealing and bank fraud. In all these episodes he has often used pseudonyms. For this he had been forbidden to use the internet or other names without the consent of the government.
But in order to make the movie and publish it on the internet, he used false names.
One of the actresses in the film anti-Islam, Cindy Lee Garcia, denounced him for having presented a false name (Sem Basin) and for deceiving her about the content of the film. Other actors confirmed that they had been called to make a movie called "Warriors of the desert" and that the dialogue had no reference to Muhammad and Islam. Instead, dialogue was later dubbed, transforming it into an offensive and vulgar film that presents Muhammad as violent and bloodthirsty, as a pedophile and sexual deviant.
By itself, the film does not violate any law of the United States, where there is freedom of opinion. But Nakoula used fake names to open a mobile phone contract and a bank account, in contravention of his probation. And for this he has been imprisoned. He continues to say that he had produced the film, but is not the director nor the Arabic translator of the trailer posted on Youtube that has inflamed scandal and violence in various Muslim countries.