OFAC Targets Hezbollah Financial Network
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated Lebanese businessman and Hezbollah financier Ahmad Jalal Reda Abdallah along with five associates and eight of his companies in Lebanon and Iraq, according to a May 19 notice. The action highlighted Hezbollah’s practice of using seemingly legitimate businesses to secretly fund the terrorist group and its activities, the OFAC news release said.
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In addition to financing, Abdallah also brokered meetings with senior businessmen and politicians in Lebanon on Hezbollah's behalf. Senior employees at Abdallah's companies were used as fronts to establish businesses throughout the Middle East on behalf of Hezbollah, helping to provide an appearance of legitimacy for these businesses.
Hezbollah “has built a web of businesses to hide its activities and generate funds for its destabilizing activities, all at the expense of accountability and public safety in Lebanon and the region,” Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said.
The designations were pursuant to Executive Order 13224, "Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism." The U.S. designated Hezbollah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization Oct. 8, 1997, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on Oct. 31, 2001.