Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template
292,469
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 1:
Line 1: − + Line 62:
Line 62: − + − − Hezbollah's use of Al-Mabarrat as a fund-raising front is a savvy strategic move, mirroring a tactic long exploited by terrorist groups operating on U.S. soil. By utilizing charities, terrorists can generate popular support by providing some legitimate services, attract contributions from donors both unwitting and aware, and attempt to obscure financial trails. But such operations extend far beyond the United States. − <ref name="emerson"/> − − In October 2011, it was revealed that a suspect in an Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador to the US, is linked to Hezbollah.<ref>Saudi ambassador assassination plot suspect linked to Hezbollah and Bahrain unrest − Al-Arabiya, 19 October 2011 http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/10/19/172590.html</ref> − − ====Europe==== − − There's a serious "Hezbollah's Terrorist Threat to the European Union" writes [[The Heritage]] (2007) − .<ref>http://www.heritage.org/Research/Testimony/Hezbollahs-Terrorist-Threat-to-the-European-Union</ref> − From a report on "Hezbollah Around the World" - Arabs, Muslims in [[Germany]] have been a key fundraising center for Hezbollah through crimes of drug trafficking, weapons and people smuggling, document and currency fraud.<ref>http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/hezbollah_overview.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_7</ref> From a May 2010 report: 'Hezbollah funded by drug trade in Europe,' German police arrested Lebanese men who transferred millions of Euros to family connected to Hezbollah. − <ref>http://www.haaretz.com/news/report-hezbollah-funded-by-drug-trade-in-europe-1.261091</ref><ref>http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100109-24465.html</ref> − − Hezbollah has established several front charities, mainly operating from [[United Kingdom]] and [[Germany]], to raise funds earmarked to support the group's members in Lebanon. For example, the U-based Lebanese Welfare Committee, HELP Charity Association for Relief and Abrar Islamic Foundation are among the charities suspected of channeling funds to Sheikh Nasrallah and Hezbollah. − <ref name="emerson"/> − − ====U.S. Mexican border==== − Hezbollah is also accused of using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins use, that Hezbollah members have entered the U.S. [[border]] through drug cartel. − <ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/hezbollah-uses-mexican-drug-routes-into-us/print/</ref><ref>http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/hezbollah-using-drug-smuggling-routes/story.aspx?guid=%7BA14CB7E3-86EE-4ECE-A417-E31BF77E65FD%7D&dist=msr_2</ref> − The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote an article on Apr 10, 2009, "The Hezbollah threat: It's here, now." <ref>http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_620146.html</ref> − − ===Money laundering=== − From approximately Jan. 1, 2007, to early 2011, at least $329 million was transferred by wire from the Lebanese Canadian Bank, the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company, the Ellissa Exchange Company and other Lebanese financial institutions, including Middle East and Africa Bank, the Federal Bank of Lebanon and BLOM Bank, to the United States for the purchase and shipment of used cars with the help of 300 or so used car dealerships. The car buyers in the United States typically had little or no property or assets other than the bank accounts used to receive the overseas wire transfers. The cars were primarily shipped to Cotonou, [[Benin]], where they were housed and sold from large car parks, including one owned by the Ellissa Group, a subsidiary of Ellissa Holding. − − A significant portion of the cash proceeds from the car sales was transported to Lebanon by a Hezbollah-controlled system of money couriers, cash smugglers, hawaladars and currency brokers. A network of money couriers controlled by Oussama Salhab, an alleged Hezbollah operative living in [[Togo]], transported tens of millions of dollars and [[Euro]]s from Benin to Lebanon through Togo and [[Ghana]]. Salhab and his relatives also own and control Cybamar Swiss GMBH LCC, a transportation company based in [[Michigan]] that was frequently used to ship cars to West Africa, as well as other entities involved in the scheme. Cash transported from West Africa was often received at the [[Beirut]] airport, where Hezbollah security safeguarded its passage to its final destination. − − This same used car, Hezbollah-controlled money laundering infrastructure is used to conceal and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from West Africa back to Lebanon. Ayman Joumaa’s drug trafficking organization, which operates in Lebanon, West Africa, Panama and Colombia, launders as much as $200 million in proceeds per month, through various channels, including bulk cash smuggling operations and Lebanese exchange houses. Joumaa’s organization uses Hezbollah couriers to transport and launder narcotics proceeds, and pays fees to Hezbollah operatives to facilitate the laundering of narcotics proceeds. − − In 2007 and 2008, approximately $1.2 billion in declared U.S. currency was transported across the Togo/Ghana border on its way from Benin to the airport in Accra, where the cash could be further shipped. − − ===Criminal suspects=== − Since Obama shut down Project Cassandra, Abdallah Safieddine and a mysterious character known only as the Ghost and other associates continue to play central roles in the trafficking of drugs and weapons, current and former U.S. officials believe. − − ====Abdallah Safieddine==== − Lebanese Hezbollah’s longtime envoy to Iran who allegedly oversaw the group's “Business Affairs Component” involved in international drug trafficking. Safieddine is a cousin to Lebanese Hezbollah boss [[Hassan Nasrallah]]. − − ===="the Ghost"==== − One of the most mysterious alleged associates of Abdallah Safieddine, secretly indicted by the United States. Project Cassandra task force agents came to regard the Ghost as the most important on-the-ground operator in the conspiracy because of his suspected role in moving drugs, money and munitions, including multi-ton loads of cocaine, into the United States, and [[WMD]] components to the [[Middle East]], according to two former senior U.S. officials. − − The Ghost was also in business with another suspected Safieddine associate, Ali Fayad − − The Ghost and Ayman Joumaa were living in [[Beirut]], and Project Cassandra agents were so familiar with their routines that they knew at which cafe the two men gathered every morning to drink espresso and “discuss drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons,” one of the two former officials said. − − ====Ayman Saied Joumaa==== − Accused drug kingpin and financier whose vast network allegedly smuggled tons of cocaine into the U.S. with [[Mexico]]’s Zetas cartel and laundered money. Joumaa's opetation launders as much as $200 million in proceeds per month. − − ====Ali Fayad==== − (aka Fayyad). [[Ukraine]]-based arms merchant suspected of being a Hezbollah operative moving large amounts of weapons to [[Syria]]. Fayad has long been instrumental in providing weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq, including through the deadly [[IED]] network that had killed so many U.S. troops during the [[Iraq insurgency]], the former officials believed. − − Task force agents had information that Fayad, a joint Lebanese and Ukrainian citizen, and the Ghost were involved in moving conventional and chemical weapons into Syria for Hezbollah, Iran and Russia to help President Assad crush [[Syrian war|the insurgency against his regime that began in 2011]]. − − Fayad also served as a Ukrainian defense ministry adviser under former Ukrainian president [[Viktor Yanukvych]],<ref>https://mideastwire.wordpress.com/2015/08/08/leila-hatoum-intelligence-warfare-the-missing-czech-nationals/ </ref> worked for the state-owned arms exporter Ukrspecexport and appeared to have taken Viktor Anatolyevich Bout place as Vladimir Putin’s go-to arms merchant. Bout was convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to Colombian [[FARC]] narcoterrorists. − − When Fayad’s name surfaced in a DEA investigation in West Africa as a senior Hezbollah weapons trafficker, agents created a sting operation, with undercover operatives posing as Colombian FARC narcoterrorists plotting to shoot down American government helicopters. Fayad offered his expert advice, and after agreeing to provide them with 20 Russian-made shoulder-fired Igla surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS), 400 rocket-propelled grenades and various firearms and rocket launchers for $8.3 million, he was arrested in [[Prague]] by [[Czech]] authorities on a U.S. warrant in April 2014, U.S. court records show. − − ==See also== − *[[Obamagate timeline 2009-2015]] − *[[Barack Hussein Obama's unlawful acts]] − *[[Obama's second term agenda]] − *[[Trump-Russia scandal]] − *[[Obama war crimes]] − *[[Clinton scandal]] − *[[FBI scandal]] − − ==References== − {{reflist}} − − [[Category:Obama Administration]] − [[Category:United States Political Scandals]] − [[Category:2010s]]
no edit summary
[[File:Money-laundering-map-Artboard 1.png|right|450px|thumb|Red arrows: purchase and flow of used cars in America to be shipped to Africa. Yellow arrows: cocaine smuggling from South America to the United States, Africa, and Europe. The drugs were shipped along with the used cars. The used cars were recorded as being purchased at inflated prices, with cash from illegal drug sales deposited in bank accounts. Green arrows: the flow of cash back to Hezbollah in Beirut, with the freshly laundered cash sent back to America for purchase of more used cars.]]
[[File:Money-laundering-map-Artboard 1.png|right|450px|thumb|Red arrows: purchase and flow of used cars in America to be shipped to Africa. Yellow arrows: cocaine smuggling from South America to the United States, Africa, and Europe. Drugs were shipped to Africa along with the used cars. The used cars were recorded as being purchased at inflated prices, with cash from illegal drug sales in the United States deposited in bank accounts. Green arrows: the flow of cash back to Hezbollah in Beirut, with the freshly laundered cash sent back to America for purchase of more used cars.]]
'''Project Cassandra''' was a task force headed by the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] (DEA) after evidence amassed that [[Hezbollah]] transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into a global crime syndicate. The Obama White House at the highest levels thwarted the investigation as a concession to the government of Iran to win the ill-conceived [[Iranian nuclear deal]].
'''Project Cassandra''' was a task force headed by the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] (DEA) after evidence amassed that [[Hezbollah]] transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into a global crime syndicate. The Obama White House at the highest levels thwarted the investigation as a concession to the government of Iran to win the ill-conceived [[Iranian nuclear deal]].
In 2009, a grand jury in [[Philadelphia]] indicted four men in connection with a plot to support Hezbollah through schemes like buying machine guns.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/us/25philly.html?_r=1</ref>
In 2009, a grand jury in [[Philadelphia]] indicted four men in connection with a plot to support Hezbollah through schemes like buying machine guns.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/us/25philly.html?_r=1</ref>
Al-Mabarrat has a U.S.-based branch headquartered in Dearborn, Mich. Founded in 1991, the Al-Mabarrat Charitable Organization-USA, Inc., has repeatedly changed its name over the past 15 years. Although Al-Mabarrat acknowledges on its Web site that it works in conjunction with the Al-Mabarrat Association in Lebanon (whose logo it shares), it omits the fact that Al-Mabarrat Lebanon is run by Sheikh Fadlallah. Despite Al- Mabarrat USA's direct link to a Fadlallah-controlled organization, the U.S. branch continues to operate unfettered.
Al-Mabarrat has a U.S.-based branch headquartered in Dearborn, Mich. Founded in 1991, the Al-Mabarrat Charitable Organization-USA, Inc., has repeatedly changed its name over the past 15 years