Federal officials said Monday that they had seized $150
million as part of a crackdown on a money laundering scheme linked to the Lebanese
militant group Hezbollah, CNN reports.
The seizure came following a complaint filed in December of
last year alleging that the now-defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank laundered money
for Hezbollah-controlled groups around the world. The U.S. State Department has
designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
U.S. officials say that between 2007 and 2011, Lebanese
Canadian Bank and other financial institutions routed at least $329 million in
proceeds from drug sales and other criminal activity to the U.S., where this
money bought used cars that were later sold in West Africa. These proceeds were
then funneled back to Lebanon via Hezbollah-controlled channels....
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