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  • OFAC sanctions Hizballah financiers in Guinea

    Financial Crimes

    On March 4, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, against two Hizballah-affiliated financial facilitators operating in Guinea. The action is intended to disrupt Hizballah’s business network in West Africa, which relies on bribes and other corrupt activity, OFAC stated, and is part of “Treasury’s ongoing efforts to target the terrorist group’s international commercial activities and its global network of financiers, supporters, donors, and facilitators, which enable Hizballah to persistently threaten the security, stability, and prosperity of Lebanon and other jurisdictions.” As a result of the sanctions, all transactions by U.S. persons or in the U.S. that involve any property or interests in property of the designated persons are prohibited. Additionally, “any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, must be blocked and reported to OFAC.” U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any dealings involving the property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons, unless exempt or authorized by a general or specific OFAC license. OFAC further warned that the agency “can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a [Specially Designated Global Terrorist.]”

    Financial Crimes Of Interest to Non-US Persons Department of Treasury OFAC OFAC Sanctions OFAC Designations SDN List Guinea

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