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FinCEN Deploys Patriot Act Against Iraqi Bank, OFAC Blacklists Chairman

U.S. officials proposed to designate Baghdad-headquartered Al-Huda Bank as a “primary money laundering concern” Monday for handling funds for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and a pair of Iran-backed militias in Iraq: Katai’b Hizballah and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.

The designation, which the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, pitched under section 311 of the Patriot Act, would bar domestic financial institutions from providing correspondent services to Al-Huda Bank, effectively severing the lender’s access to the U.S. financial system. The Office of Foreign Assets Control simultaneously blacklisted the bank’s owner and chairman, Hamad al-Moussawi, in tandem with the bureau’s proposal.

“Since its establishment, Al-Huda Bank has been controlled and operated by the IRGC,” FinCEN alleged in a 34-page notice. “Moreover, the chairman of Al-Huda Bank is complicit in Al-Huda Bank’s illicit financial activities, including money laundering through front companies that conceal the true nature of, and parties involved in, illicit transactions.”

Al-Huda Bank indirectly accesses the U.S. financial system through six foreign financial institutions, according to the notice, which does not identify the six by name.

Moneylaundering.com may update this coverage as more information becomes available.
Topics : Anti-money laundering , Counterterrorist Financing , Sanctions
Source: U.S.: FinCEN , U.S.: OFAC
Document Date: January 29, 2024