The United States Department of Justice has unsealed an indictment charging Saleem Alzaq and announced the arrests of Omar Adhami, Abdel Adhami and Raed Yousef over their alleged roles in paying, soliciting and collecting funds for Hamas. In a coordinated operation in France, three of Alzaq’s associates, Faouzi Barika, Amel Oualid and Nordine Barika, were arrested by the French General Directorate for Internal Security.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said anyone who finances or assists terrorist organisations responsible for the deaths of American citizens should expect to be prosecuted. He said members of Hamas have for decades raised money to carry out brutal attacks, and that under President Trump the department would continue to pursue those who kill Americans, dismantle terrorist finance networks and seek justice for victims’ families.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau would not forget the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and would not stop efforts to cut off funding to the group. He said the subjects allegedly took part in a conspiracy that crossed national borders to funnel money to Hamas and fuel violent attacks, using cryptocurrency in an attempt to conceal the activity. He said the case showed the ability of the FBI and its partners to follow the money and shut down resources sent to terrorists under the guise of charitable giving. He referred to 4,000 disruptions linked to foreign terrorist organisations and the stopping of 1,100 alleged terrorist actors in the United States and abroad since last year, and thanked the FBI field offices in New York, New Orleans and Tampa, the Counterterrorism Division, the Paris Legal Attaché’s Office and the French authorities.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said money is the lifeblood of terrorist organisations and that the arrests had disrupted a global financing network supplying Hamas with funds to continue killing civilians. He said the investigations spanned several United States jurisdictions and crossed international borders, and he thanked FBI agents, federal prosecutors and Joint Task Force 10-7. He referred to the Hamas led attack in Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed more than 1,200 men, women and children, and said the National Security Division would continue to hold the perpetrators and those who enabled them to account.
Jamie McDonald, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the office and its partners would prosecute those who finance Hamas wherever they are located. He said Alzaq was alleged to have been at the centre of a financing network that operated around the world and solicited more than a million dollars from individual donors, including in the United States. He linked the case to the deprivation of funding used by Hamas in Gaza and in attacks such as the 7 October 2023 massacre, which killed more than a thousand people, including dozens of Americans.
David I. Courcelle, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, said the indictment and complaint allege that Alzaq solicited donations on behalf of Hamas, an organisation responsible for attacks worldwide, and that Omar Adhami and Abdel Adhami provided him with resources intended for that purpose. Gregory W. Kehoe, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said financial support for organisations such as Hamas places safety and security at risk, and that domestic and international cooperation in the case showed a shared resolve to disrupt and prosecute the activity.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said the force’s counterterrorism work has no borders. She said intelligence analysts uncovered the international finance network and built the case that exposed more than 2 million dollars being funnelled to Hamas. She described Alzaq as a leader in Hamas’s military arm responsible for planning and carrying out attacks, and said he and the other defendants allegedly solicited donations under the guise of humanitarian aid before directing the money to Hamas.
According to the Alzaq indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York, the Adhami complaints filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the Yousef indictment filed in the Middle District of Florida, Alzaq, 45, of Gaza, is a Hamas member and a battalion deputy in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing responsible for planning and executing attacks. He serves in the Photography Department of the Al-Qassam Brigades’ Shujaiyya Brigade Media Office, a Hamas propaganda office. In that role he has photographed Hamas events, including events led by Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, and has distributed the images and descriptions to others in the propaganda apparatus. He has also posted material across social media platforms glorifying deceased Hamas leaders, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Haniyeh and Sinwar, supporting Al-Qassam Brigades fighters, and promoting the 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, including 46 American citizens.
Since at least January 2020, Alzaq is alleged to have run an international fundraising network collecting donations from individuals around the world, including in the United States. The fundraising was promoted through social media campaigns presented as humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, while the money was funnelled to Hamas. Since January 2020 he has collected more than 1.7 million dollars through these purported charitable campaigns. Associates in France, including Barika, Amel Oualid and others, assisted in collecting and transferring the money.
Abdel Adhami, 35, and Omar Adhami, 33, both of Covington, Louisiana, donated to the network. From about February 2021 until about September 2026, Abdel Adhami allegedly contributed about 94,000 dollars and Omar Adhami about 11,000 dollars to Hamas, knowing that the organisation engaged in terrorist activity, and attempted to conceal the payments through wire transfers and intermediaries. Raed Yousef, 56, of Lutz, Florida, provided almost 50,000 dollars to the network.
Alzaq is charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organisation, conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, conspiring to commit money laundering, and conspiring to defraud the United States. The first three counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and the fraud count a maximum of five years.
Omar Adhami and Abdel Adhami are each charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy to provide such support, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiring to commit money laundering. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Yousef is charged with one count of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, five counts of attempting to provide such support, one count of providing funds, goods and services to a specially designated terrorist, five counts of attempting to do so, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, five counts of money laundering, and one count of passport fraud. The terrorism and money laundering counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, and the passport fraud count a maximum of five years.
The Alzaq case is being investigated by the FBI with assistance from the New York Police Department, and is being prosecuted by assistant United States attorneys in the Southern District of New York with support from the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance. The Adhami case is being investigated by the FBI New Orleans Field Office and prosecuted in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Yousef case is being investigated by the FBI and prosecuted in the Middle District of Florida.
By John James
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