US Treasury Department. (Shutterstock)
Treasury officials cited Trump’s February “maximum pressure” memo against Iran and its terror proxies as authorization for the crackdown.
US President Trump’s counter-terrorism financing strategy notched another win on Friday when Treasury officials sanctioned a Lebanese family business empire serving as a multimillion-dollar pipeline to Hezbollah.
With shell companies selling everything from veterinary supplies to glass curtains, investigators began unraveling the scheme when they connected the dots between previously sanctioned Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal and his brother Rashid.
After Muhammad’s designation in 2018, Rashid took over day-to-day operations of several companies, including Talaqi Group and Nagham al Hayat, while Muhammad continued directing communications with Hezbollah behind the scenes.
After sanctions hit affiliated shell company Alumix, ownership shifted again to Mahasin Mahmud Murtada, widow of deceased Hezbollah finance operative Muhammad Qasim.
Investigators revealed Murtada had “actively influenced” her husband’s terrorism financing and weapons smuggling networks prior to his death last year.
Treasury officials cited Trump’s February “maximum pressure” memo against Iran and its terror proxies as authorization for the crackdown.
“Today’s action underscores Treasury’s determination to expose and disrupt the schemes that fund Hezbollah’s terrorist violence against the Lebanese people and their neighbors,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism Bradley T. Smith.
“These evasion networks strengthen Iran and its proxy Hezbollah and undermine the courageous efforts of the Lebanese people to build a Lebanon for all its citizens.”
However, breaking up Hezbollah’s financing requires more than regulatory action, which is why the State Department simultaneously announced it is offering $10 million for inside information into Hezbollah’s banking networks.
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