Sec. 2. Findings
203 words·~1 min read·
/bill/115/hr/5035/ih/section-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: Since 2010, Lebanese-based Hezbollah has been linked with South American drug trafficking organizations. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Project Cassandra has identified Hezbollah as a major supplier of cocaine into the United States. On January 11, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of the Hezbollah Financing and Narcoterrorism Team to investigate individuals and networks providing support to Hezbollah’s narcoterrorist activities.
Michael Braun testified before the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives, on June 8, 2016, that hundreds of tons of cocaine, over [a] 15-year period and move massive amounts of currency, hundreds of, millions, perhaps billions of dollars in currency around the world in the most sophisticated money laundering scheme that we have ever witnessed . In 2011, the Drug Enforcement Administration indicted Ayman Saied Joumaa, a Lebanese-Colombian dual national, for using a global network of companies operating out of Latin America, West Africa, and Lebanon to launder as much as $200,000,000 a month in drug proceeds for Mexican and Colombian cartels.
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 3329, the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, on October 25, 2017, to provide additional resources to enforcement agencies to counter Hezbollah’s other criminal enterprises including money laundering.