Washington evades sanctions on intermediaries and companies accused of funding the "Islamic State"
The United States of America announced the imposition of a new and expanded sanctions package targeting an international network of three individuals and six companies based in Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa, on charges of facilitating financial transactions and the transfer of funds between the regional branches of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).
The US Treasury Department, in an official statement on Monday, clarified that these measures directly target "key intermediaries" who have enabled the organization to maintain its financial flows and transfer them between its various centers.
The sanctions included individuals running support cells in several countries: Miloud Abdel Rahman, who lives in France, Abdelhakim Bokić, who lives in Syria, and Mukhtar Adamo Mohamed, who lives in Nigeria.
Methods of transferring funds
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bisant stressed that the Islamic State is still constantly looking for new technological and traditional methods and tools to finance its attacks, stressing that the United States will use every tool at its disposal to crush the group's remaining operational capabilities and protect the lives of its citizens and allies.
The report issued by the US Department revealed the details of the transfer mechanisms, as it was found that Abdulhakim Bokić (a Dutch citizen who is present in Syria) runs a cryptocurrency trading company called "Bitcoin Exchange".
The platform was used to transfer funds on behalf of the group's partners from several countries including Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States.
In parallel with the digital trajectory, U.S. sanctions included traditional remittance channels through the inclusion of Turkey-based financial services companies Spider and Al-Karam, which were employed to pass regional cash flows. In West Africa, the sanctions targeted three companies run by Mukhtar Adamu Mohamed in Nigeria to finance the group's branch there, in terms of logistical and military support.
The US Treasury noted that Frenchman Miloud Abdel Rahman not only conducted financial transactions with the group's branches, but also provided technical training to his supporters on how to manufacture explosives.
International Reports and Sources Monitoring the Organization's Wealth
These sanctions are an extension of international efforts that have been ongoing for years to dry up the sources of funding for the Islamic State, and UN and international reports are based on documented sources explaining the size of this wealth and its channels of movement.
UN periodic reports confirmed that ISIS's total financial reserves are estimated at tens of millions of dollars ($25 million to $50 million).
Although the group has lost its geographical control of the "spatial caliphate" in Syria and Iraq, it has succeeded in monetizing its assets and transforming them into forms that are difficult to trace.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Financial Intelligence Groups (FIGs) have noted a significant evolution in the regulation's use of the "parallel financial system", which is distributed between traditional unregulated banking "hawala" networks in the Middle East, and the use of e-wallets and virtual assets (cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and USDT) to move money across European and African borders at breakneck speed and without anonymity.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Center for Countering Extremism Project report that the group's central leadership currently relies on flexible funding corridors to transfer support to its active branches, notably the Islamic State-Khorasan Province in Central Asia, and the West Africa Branch (ISWAP), where small businesses, exchange firms, and import and export fronts are used as legitimate cover for money laundering and the passage of logistical support.