U.S. Embassy Official Denies Lebanese Bank 'Watch List'

The U.S. is not targeting Lebanese banks and will not look to levy “eminent punitive actions” against any bank, a senior economic adviser at the U.S. embassy told The Daily Star.

“The U.S. Treasury Department is not and will not levy charges against a single Lebanese bank,” the source said in remarks published Thursday, denying claims of the existence of a watch list of Lebanese banks.

The denial came after al-Liwaa daily reported Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury has placed one Lebanese bank under surveillance due to “suspicious activities by the bank.”

“We strongly deny these reports and the U.S. is not targeting Lebanese institutions,” the U.S. source told the English-language daily.

In February, Washington accused the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) of having ties to Hizbullah and laundering money for a drug network.