US Sanctions Operatives Generating Revenue For Hezbollah And Exploiting Lebanon’s Cash Economy

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action Tuesday to disrupt two key mechanisms Hezbollah uses to sustain its economic stability: revenue generation in coordination with the Iranian regime and exploitation of Lebanon’s informal financial sector.  OFAC today sanctioned gold exchange company Jood SARL, which operates under the supervision of Hezbollah’s U.S.-designated Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH), and converts Hezbollah's gold reserves into usable funds that sustain the terrorist group’s reconstitution.  OFAC also sanctioned an international procurement and commodities shipping scheme orchestrated by Hezbollah financiers operating from all over the region, including in Iran. 

“Hezbollah is a threat to peace and stability in the Middle East,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.  “Treasury will work to cut these terrorists off from the global financial system to give Lebanon a chance to be peaceful and prosperous again.” 

Hezbollah continues to use AQAH to facilitate its destabilizing militant activities, undermining the Lebanese people’s ability to rebuild while enabling the group’s own interests.  AQAH masquerades as a non-governmental organization (NGO) under the cover of a Ministry of Interior-granted NGO license, but provides financial services similar to a bank, far beyond activities disclosed in its original registration documents.

Tuesday’s action is being taken pursuant to the counterterrorism authority Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended.  The U.S. Department of State designated Hezbollah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to E.O. 13224 on October 31, 2001, and as a Foreign Terrorist Organization pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act on October 8, 1997. 

After facing challenges throughout early 2025 to secure funding, Hezbollah directed AQAH masquerades as a non-governmental organization (NGO) under the cover of a Ministry of Interior-granted NGO license, but provides financial services similar to a bank and far beyond anything disclosed in its original registration documents. Al-Qard Al-Hassan to ensure the terrorist group’s continued access to cash flow.  Senior Al-Qard Al-Hassan officials established a chain of companies to trade gold in Lebanon and potentially overseas.  Hezbollah officials pushed for Al-Qard Al-Hassan to establish these companies quickly to mitigate the liquidity pressures on the company throughout 2025. 

To evade sanctions, Al-Qard Al-Hassan officials established Lebanese government-licensed Jood SARL (Jood), overseen by U.S.-designated Samer Hasan Fawaz.  Al-Qard Al-Hassan has opened or plans to open Jood branches in predominantly Shiite areas, including Beirut, the Bek’a valley, and Nabatiyeh.  Al-Qard Al-Hassan supervises the activities of Jood, and most Jood branches are located in or near existing Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches.  Senior AQAH officials Mohamed Nayef Maged and U.S.-designated Ali Karnib are co-owners and managing partners of Jood, and they operate the company on behalf of Al-Qard Al-Hassan.  The establishment of Jood is the latest in a series of schemes Al-Qard Al-Hassan has used to obfuscate its financial activities. 

Jood is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Hezbollah. Mohamed Nayef Maged is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, AQAH. 

U.S.-designated Iran-based Hezbollah finance team member Ali Qasir regularly coordinates with a cohort of associates across several jurisdictions to evade sanctions and raise money for Hezbollah.  As of mid-2025, Moscow-based Russian national Andrey Viktorovich Borisov (Borisov), an employee of U.S.-designated Hezbollah-affiliated company Mira Ihracat Ithalat Petrol (Mira), worked directly with Ali Qasir on projects including procuring weapons from Russia and selling commodities to generate revenue.  Since at least 2021, Borisov has worked directly with U.S.-designated Hezbollah finance team associates Ibrahim Talal al-Uwayr (al-Uwayr) and Muhammad Amir Alchwiki on facilitating matters related to Mira’s business deals involving Russia.

In late 2025, the Hezbollah finance team, including Ali Qasir, al-Uwayr, and the director of U.S.- designated Hezbollah front company Hokoul SAL Offshore, Samer Kasbar, in consultation with U.S-designated Syrian businessman Yaser Husayn Ibrahim, used Turkiye-based Platinum Group International Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi to facilitate the export of millions of dollars’ worth of fertilizer from Iran to Turkiye by falsely claiming the cargo originated in Oman.  Turkiye-based Sea Surf Shipping Limited, the owner of the Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged cargo vessel LARA, was also used to facilitate this transaction, and the Iranian fertilizer cargo was loaded onto the Panama-flagged BRILLIANCE.  The BRILLIANCE, owned by Panama-based Brilliance Maritime Ventures S.A., was part of the fleet managed by U.S.-designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and Hezbollah-affiliated Syrian businessman Abdul Jalil Mallah.

Borisov, Platinum Group International Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Sea Surf Shipping Limited, and Brilliance Maritime Ventures S.A. are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, the Hezbollah.  

BRILLIANCE is being identified pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, as blocked property in the interest of Brilliance Maritime Ventures S.A. 

LARA is being identified pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, as blocked property in the interest of Sea Surf Shipping Limited.