Posted on 06/01/2022 6:24:10 PM PDT by bitt
“Has it been determined that the murderer and/or his parents are legal U.S. residents ?”
I haven’t seen the status but his grandfather attended that same elementary school as a kid.
Farhat is an Islamic name. Palestinian?
Related?
* * *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 10, 2021
Dual Lebanese-U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering and Tax Offenses
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A dual Lebanese and U.S. citizen who resides in Vienna, Virginia pleaded guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to launder money as part of a decade-long scheme to ship electronics equipment to a Hizballah-owned television station in Lebanon. In addition, the defendant and her husband pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit tax fraud by concealing income from her employment in Virginia.
“For over a decade, Racha Farhat participated in a conspiracy to purchase electronics equipment using the proceeds of illegal activity, which benefited a Lebanese television station owned by Hizballah,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Working with our law enforcement partners, we will bring to justice those who use the U.S. financial system to further the interests of prohibited entities that engage in unlawful activities abroad.”
According to court documents, Racha Farhat, 44, began laundering money in 2010 and continued to do so until the time of her arrest in February 2021. The scheme involved Farhat receiving money from an unindicted co-conspirator (UCC-1) in Lebanon, which she used to purchase electronics equipment in the United States. Farhat then shipped the items purchased by herself and other co-conspirators overseas, primarily to Lebanon, where UCC-1 supplied at least $175,000 worth of goods to Al Manar TV. Al Manar TV is a Lebanon-based TV station owned and operated by Hizballah. Both Hizballah and Al Manar TV are prohibited entities for a U.S. person to conduct business with under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2019/06/21/suspected-hezbollah-financier-extradited-to-the-u-s/
Paraguayan authorities extradited Nader Mohamad Farhat yesterday to Miami, where he faces criminal charges of money laundering. Farhat’s case promises to reveal the intricacies and magnitude of trade-based money laundering in the Tri-Border Area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, including the role played by Lebanese Hezbollah.
A Miami federal court will decide whether Farhat will be tried there or in New York, where he faces similar charges. In the case before the New York court, Farhat is an alleged co-conspirator in a case involving another Paraguayan national of Lebanese origin, Mahmoud Ali Barakat, and three other defendants who are accused of assisting in the laundering of drug monies from inside the U.S.
Court documents refer to Farhat as a “known money launderer for narcotics organizations and other illicit organizations,” while media reports allege a possible connection to Hezbollah. According to a Department of Justice press release announcing the indictment of his co-conspirators, Farhat participated in “an international money laundering scheme relying on the complexities of global trade, and the use of … businesses here in New York and in Florida, to launder millions of dollars for transnational drug traffickers and other bad actors.” (The cases have since been merged.)
These cases highlight how Latin American drug cartels and other organized crime groups continue to exploit complex, trade-based schemes to launder their ill-gotten gains. Critically, many of the companies involved are in the United States, exposing the U.S. financial system to considerable reputational risk.
The case also reveals the growing importance of the TBA to this type of financial crime. Almost a decade ago, a large Drug Enforcement Administration investigation exposed the connection between Latin American drug cartels and Hezbollah financiers. The investigation focused on the Lebanese Canadian Bank and revealed Hezbollah’s use of extensive trade-based money laundering networks in Colombia and Venezuela, which laundered cartel drug money through West Africa and used car businesses in the United States before repatriating the funds to the cartels through Lebanese-based financial institutions. . .
“It’s obviously going to a bad guy to sell, transport or to use it. The general public is not going to buy that much.”
Folks at our gun club by 10 cases at a time pretty often.
L
Exclusive: sanctioned Hezbollah agent has close ties to Iran’s money laundering network in Iraq
The National has obtained new details about accused Mohammad Abd Al Hadi Farhat’s business activities
A shadowy Hezbollah intelligence operative in Iraq has close ties to what the US refers to as a key money-laundering network by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, an investigation by The National has found.
In November 2018, the US sanctioned Mohammad Abd Al Hadi Farhat, saying the Lebanese citizen was advising militias in Iraq for Hezbollah, as well as collecting intelligence for the organisation.
“Farhat has been involved in a project to analyse and report on the Iraqi security situation for Hezbollah and the IRGC-QF,” according to the US Department of the Treasury, referring to the foreign operations wing of Iran’s paramilitary force.
The US government did not provide more information on Mr Farhat, but The National has obtained further data on the accused Hezbollah official’s activities. Mr Farhat is close to an alleged money launderer for the IRGC’s Quds Force, with interests in Iraq.
Hezbollah and its Iranian benefactors have worked in tandem in Iraq, building influence there and benefiting from a network of businesses to finance their operations.
“Iraq is becoming very important for Hezbollah fundraising,” said Michael Knights, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Corporate documents reviewed by The National, as well as a copy of Mr Farhat’s ID, reveal that in 2004 he established General Services Co S.A.R.L, an import-export company with branches in Beirut and southern Lebanon. Although the company has little public presence, it has been active in recent years, with its board of directors meeting as recently as April 2017.
One of the alleged Hezbollah spy’s business partners in the little-known company is married to Mohammad Abd Al Amir Farhat, who was sanctioned by the US in 2017 for allegedly being part of a “key IRGC-QF-run support network working with Hezbollah”.
Beyond being brothers-in-law, the two Farhats are cousins who come from the southern Lebanese village of Arab Salim, according to a funeral notice reviewed by The National. . .
Selling 10k rnds of ammo in two days to an individual is probably unusual but not illegal…my questions for the gun store…how did Ramos pay, what sort of ID was used for background check…did gunshop mount and sight in red dot…was anyone with him…do they have video of the transaction…did Ramos pay for firearms on line and oasis just did a lawful transfer(which wouldn’t have cost very much)…
10,000 rounds is 20 500 round cases. I have seen more than that stacked up at gun stores quite frequently.
Where did he get the money? Better than $6000.00 in guns and ammo Wendy’s pays that well?
Bkmk
“I wouldn’t call a town that’s over sixty miles away a neighboring town.”
It is. It is in West Texas.
This is not a surprise.
A man who will steal will commit crimes less than stealing but not likely murder people.
A man who plans on killing children usually won’t panic about going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit. Or worry about waiting for his birthday to buy a gun.
Criminals - psychopaths - usually lack the discipline to save $3,000 working a part time job at a fast food joint. Lots of little weirdness’s in the story.
What brand AR’s did he have that are $3000 bucks each?
He stole and used his Grandmother’s credit cards.
The rifles alone were approx $2,000 each.
Add mags and ammo total purchase could be around $4,500.
That was probably why the Grandmother and perp had an argument the day of the shooting.
After he shot her, he stole her truck. He didn’t know how to drive because the Grandmother’s husband was going to teach him.
Which explains why he crashed soon after stealing the truck.
I’m familiar with west Texas. I spent a lot of time in Sanderson as a youth. We just have different semantics on the word “neighbor”.
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