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23 Charged with Laundering, Concealing Terrorist Financing in Federal Sting Operation

By Brian Orsak

A federal grand jury indicted 23 men and a Maryland-based money service business Thursday for money laundering and concealment of terrorist financing. The charges stem from a four-year investigation, dubbed Operation Cash Out, into the activities of two unlicensed money service businesses in Maryland. The men operating the businesses-Pak Exchange and Hamza Inc.-illegally transferred about $4 million in government money they believed to be the proceeds of smuggled drugs and cigarettes, and in one case, funding for the terrorist group al Qaeda, according to the indictments handed up in U.S. District Court in Maryland. The money was transferred to Canada,...

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