OFAC targets Hezbollah-linked crypto financier to disrupt Iran’s terror funding
OFAC has sanctioned entities aiding IRGC-QF, Houthis, and Hezbollah, targeting financial networks, including Lebanese money exchanger Tawfiq Muhammad Sa’id al-Law.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against six entities, one individual, and two tankers from Liberia, India, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Kuwait for aiding IRGC-QF, Houthis, and Hezbollah, targeting their crypto financiers.
In an official statement, OFAC disclosed that it had sanctioned Tawfiq Muhammad Sa’id al-Law, a money exchanger based in Lebanon with Syrian origins. Al-Law is being accused of providing Hezbollah — a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. — with crypto wallets to facilitate the reception of funds from IRGC-QF commodity sales. Additionally, the sanctioned entity allegedly conducted crypto transfers on behalf of the sanctioned Syrian Qatirji Company, the press release reads.
“Al-Law has similarly conducted cryptocurrency transfers for sanctioned Hizballah officials, including Muhammad Ja’far Qasir and Muhammad Qasim al-Bazzal, and has provided financial services to Sa’id al-Jamal and his network.” OFAC
TRM Labs, a blockchain forensics firm, revealed data showing that the crypto address linked to al-Law was involved in “over a thousand transactions associated with tens-of-millions of dollars,” predominantly in the USDT stablecoin on the TRON blockchain.
The firm noted that this address was also seized by Israeli authorities in July 2023. It further revealed that 40 addresses, all involving USDT on the TRON network, were on Israel’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing’s seizure list, with al-Law’s address being a key target.
As crypto.news earlier reported, the Israeli government found around 190 Binance accounts since 2021 that have been linked to terrorism and money laundering. Later, Binance reportedly collaborated with the government to trace accounts and wallets associated with criminal conduct.
