Hezbollah 'financier' pleads guilty to evading US sanctions

A former Lebanese diplomat accused of being a financier for Hezbollah has pleaded guilty to evading U.S. financial sanctions against him and his organization, branded as "terrorist" by the U.S. government.

Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, 60, who holds Lebanese, British and Belgian citizenship, pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York to conspiracy to conduct unlawful transactions with an international terrorist, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bazzi had "accepted responsibility for his role in conspiring to secretly move hundreds of thousands of dollars from the United States to Lebanon in violation of sanctions placed on him for assisting the terrorist group Hezbollah," U.S. prosecutor Breon Peace said.

Bazzi faces up to 20 years imprisonment, as well as deportation and forfeiture of the $828,528 involved in illegal transactions.

No sentencing date has been set.

The State Department in May 2018 had declared Bazzi to be a "specially designated global terrorist" and offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has said Bazzi "has provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah over the years, generated from his business activities in Belgium, Lebanon, Iraq and throughout West Africa."

In February 2023, he was arrested in Romania and extradited to the U.S.

The U.S. attorney's statement said Bazzi had worked with an accomplice, Talal Chahine, who remains on the loose in Lebanon.

It said the two men attempted to launder their transactions through purchases and fictitious loans of equipment for a restaurant in China, a property in Lebanon and a family loan to Kuwait.

According to investigative journalism outlet ProPublica, Bazzi was appointed honorary consul in Lebanon by the government of Gambia in 2005. The volunteer diplomat role helped him access unique connections and benefits.