OFAC sanctions Hizballah financier conduits

Financial Crimes OFAC Department of Treasury Sanctions

On April 24, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against two individuals and three entities “acting as conduits for sanctions evasion schemes" for Hizballah finances. The designated entities and individuals are also subject to secondary sanctions pursuant to the Hizballah Financial Sanctions Regulations, which implement the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, and allows OFAC the authority to “prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for Hizballah, or a person acting on behalf of or at the direction of, or owned or controlled by, Hizballah.” As a result, all property and interests in property of the sanctioned individuals and entities, and of any entities owned 50 percent or more by them subject to U.S. jurisdiction, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. U.S. persons are also generally prohibited from entering into transactions with designated persons. 

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