Overview
- Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment this week charging Gaza‑based Saleem Alzaq with running fundraising campaigns that they say raised more than $1.7 million and routed at least $626,000 from U.S. donors to Hamas.
- The U.S. Treasury’s OFAC on Friday designated Alzaq, two France‑based fundraisers and two entities, saying the network moved roughly $2 million using sham charities and cryptocurrency wallets to conceal transfers to Hamas.
- Authorities arrested multiple suspects in the United States and France, including Louisiana brothers Abdel and Omar Adhami and a Florida man, while French police detained three France‑based associates tied to the charities.
- Investigators say the scheme used social platforms such as Snapchat, Telegram and Instagram, coded language like 'bread' and intermediary accounts (including PayPal) to solicit and funnel donations overseas.
- Officials credited an NYPD undercover online probe and coordinated U.S.‑French investigative work for exposing the network, and prosecutors have lodged charges including material support, money laundering and sanctions violations that carry decades‑long sentences.