A Lebanese national pleaded guilty on Sept. 20 to skirting U.S. sanctions to finance Hezbollah, the Islamist organization designated a terrorist group by the United States and Israel.
Mohammad Bazzi was identified by federal authorities as a “Specifically Designated Global Terrorist” in 2018 for providing financial, material, and technological support to the organization, according to a Department of Justice statement.
According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Bazzi, 60, is a significant contributor to Hezbollah, having provided “millions of dollars” to the organization, with money he made from his business in Belgium, Iraq, Lebanon, and West Africa. His business transactions in the United States have been shut down.Bazzi and his co-defendant, Talal Chahine, who remains at large in Lebanon, coerced a person to liquidate their Michigan real estate assets and transfer “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to Lebanon without required OFAC licenses—a violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), according to court documents.
