More than two dozen U.S. car dealerships were allegedly involved in an international half-billion-dollar money laundering scheme for Lebanon-based Hezbollah, a group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, federal officials said.
Federal agents served restraining orders and grilled employees at as many as 30 used car dealerships around the country, as part of a civil case that also named a Lebanese bank and two exchange houses as part of the plot.
According to a 62-page complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the scheme involved the purchases of used cars in the U.S. for shipment and sale abroad with funds provided by the banks, currency exchanges and associates of the Lebanon-based terrorist group.
The restraining orders are intended to seize the assets of all of the used car dealerships named in the federal complaint, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. “We’re looking to shut down this trade-based money laundering scheme,” DEA agent Derek Maltz told ABC News. “And we’re looking to take the profits away from Hezbollah and other terror groups around the world.”
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