Alleged Sanctions Evader Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Aid Hezbollah

Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi pleaded guilty last week to participating in a scheme to convince a U.S. person to move hundreds of thousands of dollars, in violations of U.S. sanctions, DOJ said. Bazzi, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 for helping to finance the terror group Hezbollah, agreed to forfeit the nearly $830,000 involved in the transaction and to be removed from the U.S. after his sentence. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Bazzi was charged in February 2023 and arrested by Romanian law authorities that same month before being extradited to the U.S. (see 2302270022). Talal Chahine, a Lebanese citizen who worked with Bazzi, remains at large in Lebanon.