Jim Kouri
Two men plead guilty in US to funding terrorist group Hezbollah
By Jim Kouri
Two men pleaded guilty Friday to charges of conspiracy to violate the "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act" by trafficking in contraband and using the proceeds to help fund a terrorist group.
Imad Majed Hamadeh, 51, and Theodore Schenk, 73, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to operating a criminal enterprise to traffic in contraband cigarettes, counterfeit Zig Zag rolling papers and counterfeit Viagra; producing counterfeit cigarette tax stamps; transporting stolen property; and money laundering.
Sixteen other defendants faced the same charges. Some of the profits derived from the illegal enterprise were given to Hezbollah, a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, according to the indictment. The criminal enterprise operated from Lebanon, Canada, China, Brazil, Paraguay and the United States. Hamadeh and Schenk face a maximum possible penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
"Combating terrorism and protecting our citizens at home and abroad, is the Department of Justice's number one priority. Raising money for designated terrorist organizations, like Hezbollah, is a serious crime which will be vigorously pursued in the Eastern District of Michigan," U.S. Attorney Murphy said.
"We will do everything we can to expose, disrupt and prevent any all criminal activity which supports terrorist organizations."
Also named in the indictment and currently awaiting a Jan. 7 trial are: Karim Hassan Nasser, 37; Fadi Mohamad-Musbah Hammoud, 33; Majid Mohamad Hammoud; Jihad Hammoud, 47; Youssef Aoun Bakri, 36; Ali Najib Berjaoui, 39; Mohammed Fawzi Zeidan, 41; and Adel Isak, 37; Most of the men lived in Dearborn, MI.
Others charged in the indictment, who are currently wanted as fugitives, and are believed to be outside the United States, are: Imad Mohamad-Musbah Hammoud, 37 of Lebanon, formerly of Dearborn; Hassan Ali Al-Mosawi, 49, of Lebanon; Hassan Hassan Nasser, 36, of Windsor, Ont.; Ali Ahmad Hammoud, 64, of Lebanon; Karim Hassan Abbas, 37, formerly of Dearborn; Hassan Mohamad Srour, 30, of Montreal, Quebec; Naji Hassan Alawie, 44, of Windsor, Ont.; and Abdel-Hamid Sinno, 52, of Montreal, Quebec.
The indictment alleges that Imad Hammoud, along with his partner, Hassan Makki, ran a multi-million dollar per year contraband cigarette-trafficking organization headquartered in the Dearborn, Mich., area between 1996 and 2002. Makki pleaded guilty in 2003 in federal district court in Detroit to racketeering and providing material support to Hezbollah.
Some of the cigarettes were supplied to the organization by Mohamad Hammoud, who was convicted in 2002 in federal district court in Charlotte, N.C., of, among other crimes, racketeering and providing material support to Hezbollah. Makki and Mohamad Hammoud, who were not charged in the current indictment, were identified as un-indicted co-conspirators. They both are currently serving prison sentences relating to their activities in this matter.
The indictment also charges that the group obtained low-taxed or untaxed cigarettes in North Carolina and the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in New York, and brought them into Michigan and the State of New York for the purpose of evading tens of millions of dollars in state cigarette taxes. The enterprise obtained large profits by reselling the cigarettes at market prices in Michigan and New York. The enterprise sometimes used counterfeit tax stamps to make it appear that the state taxes had been paid.
According to the indictment, portions of the profits made from the illegal enterprise were given to Hezbollah. Some members of the enterprise charged a "Resistance Tax," being a set amount over black market price per carton of contraband cigarettes, which their customers were told would be going to Hezbollah.
Some members of this criminal enterprise also solicited money from cigarette customers for "the orphans of martyrs program" run by Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon to support the families of Hezbollah suicide bombers and other terrorist operations.
© Jim Kouri
Two men pleaded guilty Friday to charges of conspiracy to violate the "Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act" by trafficking in contraband and using the proceeds to help fund a terrorist group.
Imad Majed Hamadeh, 51, and Theodore Schenk, 73, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Gerald E. Rosen to operating a criminal enterprise to traffic in contraband cigarettes, counterfeit Zig Zag rolling papers and counterfeit Viagra; producing counterfeit cigarette tax stamps; transporting stolen property; and money laundering.
Sixteen other defendants faced the same charges. Some of the profits derived from the illegal enterprise were given to Hezbollah, a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, according to the indictment. The criminal enterprise operated from Lebanon, Canada, China, Brazil, Paraguay and the United States. Hamadeh and Schenk face a maximum possible penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
"Combating terrorism and protecting our citizens at home and abroad, is the Department of Justice's number one priority. Raising money for designated terrorist organizations, like Hezbollah, is a serious crime which will be vigorously pursued in the Eastern District of Michigan," U.S. Attorney Murphy said.
"We will do everything we can to expose, disrupt and prevent any all criminal activity which supports terrorist organizations."
Also named in the indictment and currently awaiting a Jan. 7 trial are: Karim Hassan Nasser, 37; Fadi Mohamad-Musbah Hammoud, 33; Majid Mohamad Hammoud; Jihad Hammoud, 47; Youssef Aoun Bakri, 36; Ali Najib Berjaoui, 39; Mohammed Fawzi Zeidan, 41; and Adel Isak, 37; Most of the men lived in Dearborn, MI.
Others charged in the indictment, who are currently wanted as fugitives, and are believed to be outside the United States, are: Imad Mohamad-Musbah Hammoud, 37 of Lebanon, formerly of Dearborn; Hassan Ali Al-Mosawi, 49, of Lebanon; Hassan Hassan Nasser, 36, of Windsor, Ont.; Ali Ahmad Hammoud, 64, of Lebanon; Karim Hassan Abbas, 37, formerly of Dearborn; Hassan Mohamad Srour, 30, of Montreal, Quebec; Naji Hassan Alawie, 44, of Windsor, Ont.; and Abdel-Hamid Sinno, 52, of Montreal, Quebec.
The indictment alleges that Imad Hammoud, along with his partner, Hassan Makki, ran a multi-million dollar per year contraband cigarette-trafficking organization headquartered in the Dearborn, Mich., area between 1996 and 2002. Makki pleaded guilty in 2003 in federal district court in Detroit to racketeering and providing material support to Hezbollah.
Some of the cigarettes were supplied to the organization by Mohamad Hammoud, who was convicted in 2002 in federal district court in Charlotte, N.C., of, among other crimes, racketeering and providing material support to Hezbollah. Makki and Mohamad Hammoud, who were not charged in the current indictment, were identified as un-indicted co-conspirators. They both are currently serving prison sentences relating to their activities in this matter.
The indictment also charges that the group obtained low-taxed or untaxed cigarettes in North Carolina and the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in New York, and brought them into Michigan and the State of New York for the purpose of evading tens of millions of dollars in state cigarette taxes. The enterprise obtained large profits by reselling the cigarettes at market prices in Michigan and New York. The enterprise sometimes used counterfeit tax stamps to make it appear that the state taxes had been paid.
According to the indictment, portions of the profits made from the illegal enterprise were given to Hezbollah. Some members of the enterprise charged a "Resistance Tax," being a set amount over black market price per carton of contraband cigarettes, which their customers were told would be going to Hezbollah.
Some members of this criminal enterprise also solicited money from cigarette customers for "the orphans of martyrs program" run by Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon to support the families of Hezbollah suicide bombers and other terrorist operations.
© Jim Kouri
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