On May 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated four individuals based in Lebanon and Iran – two senior Hizballah officials and two of the group’s financial facilitators – for allegedly working with Hizballah leadership to facilitate the transfer funds to the group from overseas donors. According to OFAC, these donations make up a significant portion of Hizballah’s overall budget. Hizballah has been designated in the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist since 2001. One of the new designees, Fadi Nehme, is a financial facilitator who allegedly oversees Hizballah’s overall budget and spending, including its funding of terrorist operations and malign activities around the world. OFAC reported that Nehme is an accountant who is also a part owner of Auditors for Accounting and Auditing, a company that provides financial services to Hizballah and was previously designated by OFAC in 2022.
All of the new designations were imposed pursuant to EO 13224, as amended, which targets terrorist groups and their supporters. As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of the designated person within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving a designated person. Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.