Lebanon; France

1950-07-17

Street 10, Matn District, Rabieh, Mount Lebanon, Lebanon

1869570, National ID No.; 160D15, Passport; 14AF60880, Passport

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating the former governor of Lebanon’s central bank, Riad Salameh (Salameh), whose corrupt and unlawful actions have contributed to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon. Salameh abused his position of power, likely in violation of Lebanese law, to enrich himself and his associates by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars through layered shell companies to invest in European real estate. OFAC is also designating four close associates of Salameh, including members of Salameh’s family and his primary assistant, who helped to conceal and facilitate this corrupt activity. The United States is taking this action alongside United Kingdom and Canada, partners who share the United States’ vision of a Lebanon that is governed for the benefit of the Lebanese people and not for the personal wealth and ambition of Lebanon’s elite. Within the last several years, international efforts to promote corporate transparency have exposed Salameh’s connection to numerous shell companies and bank accounts in Europe and the Caribbean. As governor of the BdL, Salameh used his office to engage in a variety of unlawful self-enrichment schemes with the help of close family members and associates. In one scheme, Salameh — with the assistance of his brother, Raja Salameh (Raja) — used a shell company owned by Raja in the British Virgin Islands, Forry Associates, to divert approximately $330 million from transactions involving the BdL. As part of this scheme, Salameh approved a contract that allowed his brother’s company to take a commission on purchases of financial instruments by Lebanese retail banks from the BdL, even though Raja’s company provided no apparent benefit for these transactions and the contract avoided naming Forry Associates or its owner. Salameh and Raja then moved these funds to bank accounts in their own names or the names of other shell companies. Salameh’s primary assistant at the BdL, Marianne Hoayek (Marianne), joined Salameh and Raja in this venture by transferring hundreds of millions of dollars — far more than her official BdL salary accounted for — from her own bank account to those of Salameh and Raja.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1687

2023-08-10

US

Lebanon Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 549; Executive Order 13441 of August 1, 2007 Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions

OFAC country specific

Lebanon

Blocking Property

On August 1, 2007, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (“IEEPA”), issued Executive Order 13441 (72 FR 43499, Aug. 3, 2007) (“E.O. 13441”). In E.O. 13441, the President determined that the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon's legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions, to contribute to the deliberate breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated violence and intimidation, to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or to infringe upon or undermine Lebanese sovereignty contribute to political and economic instability in Lebanon and the region and constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. To deal with that threat, the President declared a national emergency. E.O. 13441 then sets forth the actions ordered by the President.

SDN