The US justice department has sentenced a Lebanese businessman and Hezbollah financier to five years in prison and ordered to pay $50 million.
Kassim Tajideen, 63, was arrested by Moroccan authorities in 2017 and from there extradited to the US.
He has now pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder money to evade US sanctions.
The Justice Department announced the ruling late on Thursday by US District Judge Reggie B. Walton of the District of Columbia:
Lebanese Businessman Tied by Treasury Department to Hezbollah is Sentenced to Prison for Money Laundering Scheme Involving the Evasion of U.S. Sanctions https://t.co/CbZAUfPgBh
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) August 8, 2019
In 2009, the Treasury Department designated Mr Tajideen as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist based on his tens of millions of dollars of financial support of [the Lebanese armed group] Hezbollah.”
“His sentencing and the $50 million forfeiture in this case are just the latest public examples of the Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to disrupt and dismantle Hezbollah and its support networks,” Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Criminal Division said.
The verdict comes as Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Hariri prepares to leave on a private visit to Washington this weekend where he is expected to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mid next week.
Mr Hariri’s visit is not official and his family will be accompanying him on the trip.
He visited Washington in July 2017 when he met US President Donald Trump.
A meeting in the White House with either Mr Trump or Vice President Pence is not scheduled on this trip given the private nature of the visit.
Mr Pompeo visited Beirut last March and the Trump administration has been trying to increase pressure on Hezbollah who has three seats in the current Hariri Government.
The US sanctioned Hezbollah security official Wafic Safa and ranking parliamentarian Mohamad Raad in July, and has threatened to do more in its attempt to squeeze Iran and its proxies across the region.
The administration in a rare move through its embassy in Beirut, publicly criticised politicians who have exploited a deadly shooting in Qabr Shamoun for political gain.
The move was widely interpreted as a warning to President Michel Aoun’s party to halt his campaign against the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
