US sues Lebanese firms for 'laundering Hezbollah funds'

Three Lebanese financial institutions linked to Hezbollah laundered more than $300m (£193m) through the US second-hand car market, US prosecutors say.

A civil suit says the Lebanese Canadian Bank and two money-exchange firms used drug-trafficking and criminal proceeds to buy and ship cars to West Africa.

Cash from their sale was allegedly then smuggled to Lebanon, along with funds from Colombian and Mexican cartels.

Prosecutors are also seeking to freeze and seize the assets of the companies, along with those of about 30 US car dealers and a US shipping company, which are accused of facilitating the crime.

Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist movement, was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US government in 1997.

The civil suit filed at Manhattan federal court on Thursday alleges that between January 2007 and early 2011 at least $329m of drug-trafficking and criminal proceeds was wired from Lebanon to the US to buy second-hand cars, which were then transported to West Africa.

"Cash from the sale of the cars, along with the proceeds of drug-trafficking, were then funnelled to Lebanon through Hezbollah-controlled money-laundering channels," the US Attorney's Office said.

Couriers, smugglers and currency brokers brought the cash to two money-exchange companies in Beirut - the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company and Ellissa Holding - which then deposited it at the Lebanese Canadian Bank, it added.

US alleges huge Hezbollah money laundering web
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-alleges-huge-hezbollah-money-laundering-214025993.html

Several Lebanese financial institutions with alleged ties to Hezbollah were part of a massive scheme that funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal proceeds through the United States, prosecutors here charged on Thursday.

A criminal complaint in New York federal court targeted the Lebanese Canadian Bank and two Lebanon-based houses, the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company and Ellissa Holding, in the scheme to launder profits from narcotics dealing and other criminal activities.

“Funds were wired from Lebanon to the United States to buy used cars, which were then transported to West Africa. Cash from the sale of the cars, along with proceeds of narcotics trafficking, were then funneled to Lebanon through Hezbollah controlled money laundering channels,” the US Attorney’s office said in a statement.

All of the financial institutions allegedly involved in the scheme are linked to Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese military-political group that Washington considers a terrorist organization.

Federal authorities are seeking the assets of the three institutions, some 30 US car dealers and a US shipping company, the statement said. They are also seeking civil money laundering penalties totaling $483.1 million, which allegedly represents the total of money laundered.

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