Treasury maintains pressure on Houthi procurement and financing programs

WASHINGTON Today, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a dozen individuals and entities based in multiple jurisdictions, including the branch head of the Houthi-aligned Central Bank of Yemen, in Sanaa, for their role in arms trafficking, money laundering and shipping illicit Iranian oil for the benefit of the Houthis. Those named today include key smuggling players, arms traffickers, and maritime and financial facilitators who have enabled the Houthis to acquire and transport a range of dual-use weapons components, as well as to generate revenue to support their destabilizing regional activities. Additionally, OFAC identified five cryptocurrency wallets associated with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF)-backed Houthi financial official Said al-Jamal (al-Jamal), who operates under the pseudonyms Khrpi, Ahmad Saidi and Hisham, among others.

Today's action underscores our commitment to leveraging all of our tools to disrupt Houthi efforts to acquire weapons, procure dual-use components and obtain additional revenue, said Bradley T. Smith, Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The United States will continue to expose these schemes and hold accountable those who seek to facilitate the Houthis’ destabilizing activities.

Today's action is being taken pursuant to Counterterrorism Executive Order (EO) 13224, as amended. The US State Department's designation of Ansarallah (commonly known as the Houthis) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), pursuant to the

EO 13224, as amended, took effect on February 16, 2024. OFAC designated al-Jamal pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, on June 10, 2021, for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material or technological support for, or goods or services intended for or in support of, the FQ-CGRI. OFAC designated the FQ-IRGC pursuant to EO 13224 of October 25, 2007, for providing material support to several terrorist groups.

Senior Houthi financial officials and exchange houses

Hashem Ismail Ali Ahmad al-Madani (al-Madani), governor of the Houthi-aligned central bank in Sanaa, Yemen, is a key figure in the Houthi movement. Al-Madani is the main supervisor of funds sent to the Houthis by the QF-IRGC and has cooperated with the QF-backed Houthi financial official, al-Jamal, to conduct business activities for the benefit of the Houthis.

Ahmed Muhammad Muhammad Hasan al-Hadi (al-Hadi) is a senior Houthi financial official who coordinates and facilitates the movement of Houthi funds on behalf of the group. Al-Hadi ordered other Houthi financial officials, including al-Jamal, to move funds for the group and tasked them with disbursing funds to Houthi officials and other individuals in Yemen.

Al-Madani is designated pursuant to Executive Order EO 13224, as amended, for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of the Houthis, directly or indirectly. Al-Hadi is designated pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support, or goods or services to or in support of the Houthis.

The Houthis have used Sanaa-based money services businesses under their control to move large sums of money and circumvent sanctions. Mohammed Ali Al Thawr Exchange (Al Thawr Exchange), under the supervision of US-designated Houthi financial official Abdullah al-Jamal, contributed millions of dollars on behalf of the al-Jamal network to Yemen to enable trading operations. money laundering with the IRGC. QF. Similarly, Khaled Al Hazmi and Brother Company General Partnership (Al Hazmi Exchange) transferred funds to the US-designated and al-Jamal-controlled Davos Exchange and Remittances Company (Davos Exchange) in early 2024, to cover the assets sanctioned by Davos Exchanges and help al-Jamal. The Jamal network circumvents sanctions.

Al Thawr Exchange and Al Hazmi Exchange are designated pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support, or goods or services to, or in support of, al-Jamal .

In addition to using money services businesses to access funding abroad, the al-Jamals network has also used cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions. Today, OFAC added five wallet addresses used by al-Jamal and his network to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) to disrupt these financial flows.

HOUTHI arms smuggling agents and shipping facilitator

Houthi operatives based in Yemen and the People's Republic of China (PRC) play a crucial role in facilitating the movement of dual-use weapons and components into Yemen. Wail Muhammad Said Abd-al-Wadud (Al-Wadud), based in Yemen, is a Houthi logistics official who helped facilitate Houthi smuggling operations. Umar Ahmad Umar Ahmad Hajj (Umar) is a Houthi logistics official who, alongside Al-Wadud, facilitated Houthi smuggling activities across Somalia.

Houthi procurement agents rely on a range of shipping companies with offices in Yemen and the PRC to deliver illicit purchases to Houthi fighters. One of these companies, Safwan Al-Dubai Company of Shipping and Trade (Safwan Al-Dubai), is a Yemen-based shipping and logistics company that Houthi procurement officials have used to import dual-use items and other weapons components in Yemen. Safwan Al-Dubai maintains a presence in the PRC, which it likely uses to conceal arms deliveries to Houthi forces.

Al-Wadud and Umar are designated pursuant to Executive Order EO 13224, as amended, for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of the Houthis, directly or indirectly. Safwan Al-Dubai is designated pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support, or goods or services to or in support of the Houthis.

FACILITATORS OF HOUTHI ILLICIT TRANSPORT

Al-Jamal generates revenue for the Houthis through the illicit sale of Iranian oil to customers in East Asia. Al-Jamals' oil shipments are handled by a network of shipping companies in Malaysia that provide essential services to vessels carrying this cargo. Malaysian companies Blu Shipping (M) SDN BHD (Blu Shipping) and Tefcas Marine SDN BHD (Tefcas Marine) provided services to the US-sanctioned vessel RENEEZ (IMO 9232450), which transported tens of thousands of tonnes of Iranian goods. for the al-Jamals network.

Merkur Energy Port Services SDN BHD (Merkur Energy) served as port agent for another US-designated vessel, the YORGOS (IMO 9150365), which also transported Iranian cargo for the al-Jamals network. Puvaneswaran Venayagamoorthy (Venayagamoorthy) is the sole owner and director of Merkur Energy. Ezekial Kanniappan Jr (Kanniappan), who is the Chief Operating Officer of Merkur Energy, helped provide services to YORGOS.

Merkur Energy, Blu Shipping and Tefcas Marine are designated pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, for materially assisting, sponsoring or providing financial, material or technological support, or goods or services to or in support of, al-Jamal. Venayagamoorthy is designated pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, to own or control, directly or indirectly, Merkur Energy. Kanniappan is designated pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, for acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Merkur Energy.

IMPLICATIONS OF SANCTIONS

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in the ownership of these persons and entities named above, as well as any entity owned by them, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more , individually or with other blocked persons, who are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. OFAC regulations generally prohibit all transactions by or within the United States (including transactions passing through the United States) that involve property or interests in property of designated persons. or blocked. U.S. persons must comply with OFAC regulations, including all U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens, regardless of location, all persons in the United States, and all entities incorporated in the States. -United States and their branches abroad. Non-U.S. persons are also subject to certain OFAC prohibitions. For example, non-U.S. persons are prohibited from provoking or conspiring to cause U.S. persons to intentionally or unintentionally violate U.S. sanctions, as well as from engaging in conduct that evades U.S. sanctions. Violations of OFAC regulations may result in civil or criminal penalties. OFAC can impose civil penalties for sanctions violations on the basis of strict liability, meaning that a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction can be held civilly liable even if that person did not know or had no reason to know that she was carrying out a transaction prohibited by the sanctions. laws and regulations administered by OFAC. OFAC's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidance provides more information about OFAC's enforcement of U.S. economic sanctions, including factors that OFAC generally considers in determining an appropriate response to a violation related. For more information on complying with U.S. sanctions and export control laws, please see the Tri-Seal Compliance Brief from the Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury, and Department of Justice.

Additionally, engaging in certain transactions with today's designated individuals carries a risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to EO 13224, as amended. Under this authority, OFAC may prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintenance in the United States of a correspondent account or pass-through account of any foreign financial institution that has knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a specially designated person. Global terrorist.

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC's ability to designate and add individuals to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove individuals from the SDN List in accordance with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about positive change in behavior. For more information on the process of requesting removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN list, please refer to OFAC Frequently Asked Questions 897 here. For detailed information on the process of submitting a request to be removed from an OFAC sanctions list, please click here

Click here for more information on the individuals and entities identified today.

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