http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-10/lebanese-canadian-bank-linked-to -drugs-terror-group.html
Lebanese Canadian Bank Linked to Drugs, Terror Group February 10, 2011, 10:52 AM EST By Justin Blum (Updates with bank having no immediate comment in last paragraph.) Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL facilitated money laundering by an international drug- trafficking network and has ties to the terrorist organization Hezbollah, according to the U.S. The Beirut, Lebanon-based bank, through management complicity and failure of its internal controls, has been used "extensively" by people associated with the network to move as much as $200 million per month in proceeds from illicit drug deals, according to a Treasury Department statement today. The department filed a notice proposing banning U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining certain accounts for the bank. The closely held bank provides corporate, retail and investment products and maintains correspondent accounts with banks worldwide, including U.S. financial institutions, according to the Treasury Department. "This action seeks to protect the U.S. financial system from the illicit proceeds flowing through LCB and to deprive this international narcotics trafficking and money laundering network of its preferred access point into the formal financial system," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, in the statement. "Any financial institution that collaborates in illicit conduct on this scale risks losing its access to the United States." Ayman Joumaa, a "drug kingpin," along with his Lebanon- based network and other individuals, have used the bank to launder narcotics proceeds, according to the Treasury Department. Hezbollah received financial support from Joumaa's network and bank managers are linked to officials of the terror group, according to the department. Bank Chairman Georges Zard Abou Jaoude didn't immediately return a call to his office seeking comment. --With assistance from Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon. Editors: Jim Rubin, Brigitte Greenberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at [email protected] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
