The US administration announced on Tuesday that it had uncovered a laundering and sanctions-busting network supporting Lebanese businessman and art collector Nazem Ahmed, considered by the United States to be the financier of the Hezbollah. Nazem Ahmed, described as a diamond dealer “involved in the trade of ‘blood diamonds'” in a statement, has been under sanctions from the US Treasury Department since 2019.
The Treasury suspects this time more than fifty people and companies of helping Mr. Ahmed to escape US sanctions. They are in turn the target of sanctions, in particular the freezing of all their assets in the United States and the prohibition of any American company or citizen from doing business with them, at the risk of being in turn targeted by Sanctions.
As for Nazem Ahmed, the Department of Justice has announced that it will launch proceedings against him for circumventing sanctions, estimating at more than 400 million dollars the number of exchanges carried out by Mr. Ahmed between 2020 and 2022, including 160 million dollars “via the US financial system”.
This also applies to buying art from art galleries in Chicago or Los Angeles and from a New York artist. The network extends from Lebanon to around ten countries, including several African countries, including South Africa and the Ivory Coast, as well as Belgium and the United Kingdom.
The operation uncovered consists in ensuring the financing of the Lebanese Shiite movement through the purchase of precious stones, works of art and luxury products, thus allowing the laundering of funds otherwise subject to sanctions. “Those involved used shell companies and fraudulent practices to obscure Nazem Said Ahmed’s role in these financial transactions,” Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said. in the press release.
“Luxury market players should be particularly vigilant of these potential tactics that enable terrorist financing, money laundering and sanctions evasion,” Nelson added. The Treasury specifies that this series of sanctions is also decided in coordination with the United Kingdom. For its part, the State Department recalled offering up to 10 million dollars for any information concerning Hezbollah’s financing mechanisms, “including concerning Nazem Ahmed”.
Hezbollah, or simply its military wing, is considered a terrorist organization by many countries, including the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and most Arab League member states.