On Thursday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against five people involved in financing Hezbollah.
Adnan Mahmoud Youssef, Mazen Hassan al-Zein, Andriyah Samir Mushantaf, Bashir Ibrahim Mansur, and Firas Hasan Moukalled were designated for helping US-designated Hezbollah money exchanger Hassan Moukalled and his company, CTEX Exchange, “evade sanctions and facilitate illicit activities in support of Hezbollah.”
“These individuals, including two co-founders of CTEX Exchange and two of Moukalled’s sons, operate two companies in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that are being concurrently designated,” reads an OFAC press release.
“Hezbollah continues to rely on seemingly legitimate business investments and key facilitators to generate revenue for the group’s operations, including its destabilizing attacks across Israel’s northern border,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The United States remains focused on relentlessly pursuing Hezbollah’s key revenue sources and constraining its ability to further destabilize the region,” he added.
According to the text, this action is based on the sanctions imposed by OFAC on January 24, 2023, on Hassan Moukalled, his companies (CTEX Exchange, the Lebanese Company for Information and Studies SARL (LCIS), and the Lebanese Company for Publishing, Media, and Research), as well as on his sons, Rayyan and Rani.
“Moukalled continues to serve as a financial advisor to Hezbollah and works closely with senior Hezbollah finance officials, including US-designated Muhammad Kassir,” who has been under sanctions since May 15, 2019, “to represent Hezbollah’s business interests throughout the Middle East,” OFAC says.
The press release points out that “Mokalled, jointly with Hezbollah senior officials Muhammad Qasir and Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal, established CTEX Exchange as a financial facilitation front company for Hezbollah.”
Hassan Mokalled’s Network
Adnan Mahmoud Youssef is “an employee of CTEX Exchange and has, as of mid-2023, sought investors to set up companies in the UAE on behalf of Moukalled in circumvention of the sanctions imposed on Moukalled in early 2023 by the government of the UAE.”
Additionally, Youssef has “engaged in business transactions with and received over a million dollars from US-designated Hezbollah financier Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi.”
Mazen Hassan al-Zein is a UAE-based business consultant for Moukalled. “Since mid-2023, al-Zein has been a business partner with Moukalled and Youssef on various projects in the UAE,” read the statement. “Moukalled appointed al-Zein as his representative to coordinate with Moukalled’s associates on his behalf, particularly on business deals with potential investors to secure millions of dollars worth of funds.”
Al-Zein is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of The Crystal Group, a Lebanon and UAE-based hospitality company.
Andriyah Samir Mushantaf and Bashir Ibrahim Mansur, “jointly with Moukallad, contributed capital towards founding CTEX Exchange.” Mushantaf and Mansur continue to be minority shareholders in CTEX Exchange alongside Moukalled, according to the OFAC statement.
Firas Hasan Moukalled, one of Moukalled’s sons, “is also involved in Moukalled’s business dealings through US-designated LCIS, where Firas works.” Lebanon-based Teleport Company SAL is jointly owned and operated by Mushantaf and two of Moukalled’s sons, Firas and Rayyan.
As a result of this action, “all property and interests in property of the designated persons” and “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly” (…) are blocked and subject to US sanctions.
