Treasury Targets Hizballah Finance Team Sanctions Evasion Network
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating five individuals and three associated companies involved in a Lebanon-based sanctions evasion network supporting the Hizballah finance team. The Hizballah finance team manages a variety of lucrative commercial projects and oil smuggling networks, often in conjunction with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force (IRGC-QF), to generate and transfer revenue for Hizballah. The Hizballah finance team uses front companies to generate millions of dollars in revenue for Hizballah and support the group’s terrorist activities, while also allowing key associates and family members, like those designated today, to enrich themselves through these commercial enterprises.
“Today’s action underscores Treasury’s determination to expose and disrupt the schemes that fund Hizballah’s terrorist violence against the Lebanese people and their neighbors,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “These evasion networks strengthen Iran and its proxy Hizballah and undermine the courageous efforts of the Lebanese people to build a Lebanon for all its citizens.”
Read more: U.S. Department of the Treasury