US Seizes .com Websites Run by Sanctioned People, Companies

The U.S. last week seized three websites with a top level domain name operated by people sanctioned by the Treasury Department, including those with ties to the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah, DOJ announced. The websites are registered to domain name registry provider Verisign and are ctexlb.com, imarwaiktissad.com and russia-now.com. DOJ said people who operate the sites are listed on Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List and are listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

A November affidavit that led to the seizure of the websites lists Hassan Ahmed Moukalled, Rani Hassan Moukalled, Rayyan Hassan Moukalled, money exchange company CTEX Exchange and Lebanese Company for Information and Studies SARL as the people and companies with ties to the websites, and each has been sanctioned by Treasury (see 2301240020). The affidavit, written by a Bureau of Industry and Security export enforcement agent, notes that they needed a Treasury license to operate under the domain names because they are operated by Verisign, an American company. The agent said Treasury never issued licenses to those people and companies to allow them to run the websites.