Hezbollah leader Nasrallah
Photo: AFP
US Treasury: Hezbollah-linked bank money launderer
Treasury says several individuals involved in drug-trafficking, money laundering operation hold accounts at Lebanese Canadian Bank
The US Treasury Department on Thursday accused a Beirut-based bank of involvement in an international money-laundering and drug-trafficking operation with ties to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The Treasury officially designated Lebanese Canadian Bank as a "primary money laundering concern," saying this might eventually lead to actions that force US financial institutions to cut off some of their ties with the bank.
"Several individuals involved in this global trafficking and money laundering network hold or utilize cash deposit accounts at LCB to move hundreds of millions of dollars monthly in cash proceeds from illicit drug sales into the formal financial system," the Treasury said in a statement.
In a related action in January, the Treasury targeted a Lebanon-based drug trafficking and money laundering network suspected of doing as much as $200 million a month in business. At the time, it labeled Ayman Joumaa, as well as nine people and 19 entities connected with his organization, as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers.
In Thursday's announcement, Treasury flagged Joumaa as one of the individuals laundering funds through LCB.
"The Lebanese Canadian Bank for years has participated in a sophisticated money laundering scheme involving used cars purchased in the United States and consumer goods overseas," said Michele Leonhart, administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, which worked with Treasury on the case.
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