Post by congregatio on Aug 26, 2021 6:45:42 GMT 4
Amid the Biden administration’s crackdown on corruption worldwide, the Treasury sanctioned a money laundering network operating in the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
The federal department sanctioned Kassem Mohamad Hijazi and two of his partners, Khalil Ahmad Hijazi and Liz Paola Doldan Gonzalez, along with five of their companies for their involvement in the scheme to launder hundreds of millions of dollars obtained through illicit means through the complex but vulnerable bureaucracies of the three nations’ financial systems.
Kassem, 48, was identified by the Treasury as the leader of the money laundering organization based in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. The department said he has worked from at least 2017 as a despachante who navigate the expensive, expansive and lengthy governmental process to import and export goods.
The Treasury accused Kassem of maintaining “strong ties” with Paraguayan politicians, police officers, district attorneys and money exchange brokers to provide him with assurances and security to operate his businesses in the tri-border area, which is known to contain a large number of unregistered money exchange houses that launder money through export-import and retail electronic and automotive businesses.
Kassem, a Brazilian of Lebanese descent, uses Espana Informatica S.A., which was one of the five businesses sanctioned Tuesday as it’s run by the 60-year-old Khalil, to coordinate with American and Chinese suppliers to import U.S. electronic equipment into Paraguay through companies and other despachantes to avoid taxation and to launder money.
“Kassem coordinated with a company located in Florida for shipments of goods, for which he altered invoices and submitted them to a Paraguayan bank for a wire transfer payment back to the Florida-based company,” the Treasury said. “The altered invoice greatly reduced the stated value of the goods shipped to avoid taxation and allowed Kassem to further launder the profits of his import/export operations.”
The value of the goods was estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Paraguay’s National Anti-Drug Secretariat announced authorities arrested Kassem Tuesday morning in Ciudad del Este from where he was transferred by the Paraguayan Air Force to the capital Asuncion.
In a statement, the SENAD said he has been charged with money laundering drug proceeds and was wanted by the U.S. Justice Department.
Kassem “would skillfully permeate the weaknesses of the national and international financial system to place and stratify funds from illicit activities including drug trafficking generating fraudulent commercial transactions,” it said in a statement.