On September 10, 2019, President Donald Trump issued a revised Executive Order 13224, furnishing the Treasury and State Departments new mechanisms permitting the U.S. Government to better identify and designate perpetrators of terrorism worldwide, especially ones involved in terrorism financing. Also on September 10, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) used the new authorities in E.O. 13324 to designate a series of terrorist leaders, facilitators, and entities.
Treasury designated 15 leaders, individuals, and entities affiliated with terrorist groups. The action targets entities affiliated with HAMAS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), al-Qa’ida, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods-Force (IRGC-QF), and combined with actions taken by the State Department amounts to some of the furthest reaching designations of terrorists and their supporters in the past 15 years.
The President’s revised E.O. and Treasury’s announcement of new designations came just one day before the eighteenth anniversary of 9/11 attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. The purpose of the original E.O. 13224 was to disrupt the financial infrastructure of terrorist groups worldwide. Treasury’s press release states that E.O. 13224 has helped to dismantle networks supporting a broad range of terrorist groups from al-Qa’ida and ISIS to Iranian-backed groups like Hizballah and HAMAS. The E.O. also is an important mechanism in the U.S. Government’s efforts to drain the financial resources of the Iranian regime’s bad actors including the IRGC, and its foreign expeditionary arm, the Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
Revised E.O. 13324 and New CounterTerrorism Tools
The revised E.O. 13224 gives the Treasury and State Departments new tools that permit the U.S. Government to better identify and designate terrorist perpetrators worldwide. In particular, the E.O.:
- Has new designation criteria that permits the U.S. Government to more efficiently target leaders or officials of terrorists groups as well as individuals who participate in terrorist training;
- Provides for secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that have knowingly conducted or facilitated significant financial transactions on behalf of any person sanctioned pursuant to E.O. 13224;
- Authorizes Treasury to prohibit a foreign financial institution that has knowingly conducted or facilitated a significant transaction with any Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) from opening or maintaining a correspondent or payable-through account in the United States; and
- Consolidates U.S. counterterrorism authorities under a single sanctions program by eliminating E.O. 12497 and combining that authority’s goal of defending the Middle East Peace Process with E.O. 13224’s global remit and expanded authorities.
- The new authority warns foreign financial institutions that enabling terrorists and their financial backers to rely upon the international financial system to facilitate their malign activities will have consequences.
New Targets of Treasury’s Sanctions under E.O. 13224
Treasury has sanctioned a broad away of persons. Among them is the Turkish-based Redin Exchange for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, HAMAS. As of March 2019, the Redin Exchange and Treasury-designated financial facilitator Muhammad Sarur as having been involved in a $10 million dollar transfer to HAMAS’s operational arm, the Izz-Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. As of mid-2018, Redin Exchange was identified as a key part of the infrastructure used to transfer money to HAMAS. Throughout 2017, tens of millions of dollars was transferred to HAMAS with the assistance of Redin Exchange.
Treasury sanctioned Marwan Mahdi Salah Al-Rawi as Redin Exchange’s Chief Executive Officer, and Ismael Tash, as its Redin Exchange’s Deputy CEO and in charge of its foreign relations.
Treasury sanctioned Lebanon-based Muhammad Sa’id Izadi as a leader or official of the IRGC-QF who has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, HAMAS.
The Turkey-based Zaher Jabarin was sanctioned as the head of HAMAS’s Finance Office. He allegedly manages HAMAS’s yearly budget amounting to tens of millions of dollars, is in charge of HAMAS’s income from around the world, and seeks to obtain add additional sources of funding for HAMAS.
Treasury has sanctioned SMART Ithalat Ihracat Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi. Ismael Tash is also newly sanctioned. He is the owner of SMART, which is an import/export company and possible front company associated with Redin. Both SMART and Redin Exchange share the same Istanbul –based address.
Saksouk Company for Exchange and Money Transfer (Saksouk) was sanctioned for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, ISIS. In late 2018, Saksouk handled fund transfers on behalf of Syria-based ISIS members.
Treasury has sanctioned Mohamed Ahmed Elsayed Ahmed Ibrahim, a Brazil-based member of al-Qa’ida, who provided facilitation support to al-Qa’ida members and material support to al-Qa’ida.
Treasury has sanctioned Almaida Marani Salvin for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, ISIS-Philippines. In April 2019, Philippine authorities arrested Salvin in Zamboanga City, Philippines, based on her being suspected of unlawful manufacture, sale, acquisition, disposition, importation, or possession of an explosive or incendiary device.
Maldives-based Mohamad Ameen was sanctioned for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K). He is allegedly an ISIS-K recruiter who encouraged people to join ISIS-Khorasan.
Treasury has sanctioned Al-Hebo Jewelry Company for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to ISIS. As of late 2017, al-Hebo’s location in Gaziantep, Turkey allegedly participated in an ISIS scheme to convert gold into cash to more efficiently and secretly send funds via hawalas in Turkey to ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria.
Analysis
A significant new tool in the revised E.O. 13224 is the provision of secondary sanctions against foreign financial institutions that have knowingly conducted or facilitated significant financial transactions on behalf of any person sanctioned pursuant to E.O. 13224. Treasury will be able to force people to choose between using foreign financial institutions under the threat of the secondary sanctions. The ability of Treasury to prohibit a foreign financial institution that has knowingly conducted or facilitated a significant transaction with any Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) from opening or maintaining a correspondent or payable-through account in the U.S. is also an important sanction.
The new persons sanctioned show the diversity of types of occupations sanctions (e.g., recruiters, financial institutions, jewelers, import-export businesses, CEOs and Deputy-CEOs of financial institutions).
The persons are located worldwide (e.g., Turkey, Lebanon, Maldives, Brazil, Syria, and the Philippines).
The current issue of the IELR will have a more comprehensive discussion of the revised E.O. and the new sanctions.
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