Overview
- Federal agents arrested Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi in San Diego and a five-count criminal complaint was unsealed by the Justice Department on Wednesday charging him with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, sanctions evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements.
- Prosecutors allege Sabassi raised about $600,000 through social media and crowdfunding between December 2023 and February 2024 and that he sent roughly $116,000 to a Hamas member while trying to convert about $382,000 into cryptocurrency for transfer.
- The complaint alleges Sabassi used a putative charity called Ikram — The Arab Charity Foundation Inc. — and coordinated with Gaza Now, an OFAC designated fundraising conduit, to conceal transfers and solicit donors under the guise of humanitarian aid.
- Sabassi faces statutory maximum prison terms up to 20 years on the most serious counts and up to five years for false statements, and the case is being prosecuted out of the Southern District of New York with assistance from the Justice Department’s National Security Division and multiple Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
- The arrest shows federal efforts to disrupt online and crypto-enabled channels that law enforcement says move money to designated terrorist groups and follows OFAC’s March 27, 2024 designation of Gaza Now and two co-conspirators as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.