Jorge Fadlallah Cheaitelly
Mohamad Zouheir El Khansa
Photos: U.S. Treasury
U.S. citizens, businesses, and financial institutions prohibited from doing financial and commercial transactions with designated money laundering companies.
By H. Nelson Goodson
December 30, 2011
Washington, D.C. - On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in a news release confirmed that it designated Lebanese-Colombian nationals Jorge Fadlallah Cheaitelly and Mohamad Zouheir El Khansa as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs) due to their significant role in international money laundering activities involving drug trafficking proceeds. OFAC also designated nine other individuals and 28 entities in Colombia, Panama, Lebanon, and Hong Kong with ties to Jorge Cheaitelly and Mohamad El Khansa. OFAC's designated action was taken under pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these entities and individuals and freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
Jorge Cheaitelly allegedly runs an extensive money laundering network based in Panama and Colombia with ties to Mexico, Lebanon, and Hong Kong. The OFAC designated act exposes these individuals money laundering network to the international financial system and undermines their ability to launder drug money through a global support network for the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, according to OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin.
Jorge Cheaitelly leads a Panama-based drug trafficking and money laundering organization that stretches across the globe, spanning the Americas, the Middle East, and Hong Kong. OFAC action targets key Colombian members of the Cheaitelly/El Khansa criminal organization, including Cali-based money launderer Jaime Edery Crivosei, Barranquilla-based drug trafficker Benny Issa Fawaz and Maicao-based money launderer Ali Mohamad Saleh. Jorge Cheaitelly’s key financial associates are also targeted, including his siblings, Jaime Fadlallah Cheaitelly, Guiseppe Ali Cheaitelly Saheli, and Fatima Fadlallath Cheaitelly, and two Lebanon-based associates, Fawaz Mohamad Rahall and Ahmed El Khansa.
OFAC's action also targets 28 companies controlled by Jorge Cheaitelly and Mohamad El Khansa and their associates in Panama, Colombia and Hong Kong. Among OFAC's designations are several money exchange businesses in Panama - Eurocambio, S.A., Euro Exchange Y Financial Commerce, Inc. (a.k.a. Eurex) and General Commerce Overseas, Inc. – as well as Junior International S.A., Global Technology Import & Export, S.A. (GTI), and Fedco Import & Export, S.A., import export businesses located in Panama’s Colon Free Zone that are part of the Cheaitelly/El Khansa financial network. Junior International S.A. is affiliated with the significant Lebanese drug trafficker and money launderer, Ayman Joumaa, who was designated under the Kingpin Act in January 2011. Cheaitelly replaced Ayman company with Joumaa's brothers who are also designated as narcotics traffickers.
Several front companies located in Maicao, Colombia were also designated including electronics stores Bodega Electro Giorgio and Almacen Electro Sony Star, general merchandise businesses Family Fedco and Comercial Globanty, and luggage stores Almacen Batul and Comercial Estilo y Moda. Two businesses controlled by Cali-based money launderer Jaime Edery Crivosei, Agropecuaria La Perla Ltda and KPD S.A., were also designated. OFAC also designated Polyton (Asia) Limited, a company located in Hong Kong, for acting for or on behalf of Guiseppe Ali Cheaitelly Saheli.
The Treasury actions in Thursday was made in close coordination with investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the New York City Police Department.
Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties. Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.
Criminal organization chart and photos (PDF) of affiliates of Cheaitelly and El Khansa at link: http://1.usa.gov/t5JOoj
Connected by MOTOBLUR™ on T-Mobile
Photos: U.S. Treasury
U.S. citizens, businesses, and financial institutions prohibited from doing financial and commercial transactions with designated money laundering companies.
By H. Nelson Goodson
December 30, 2011
Washington, D.C. - On Thursday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in a news release confirmed that it designated Lebanese-Colombian nationals Jorge Fadlallah Cheaitelly and Mohamad Zouheir El Khansa as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs) due to their significant role in international money laundering activities involving drug trafficking proceeds. OFAC also designated nine other individuals and 28 entities in Colombia, Panama, Lebanon, and Hong Kong with ties to Jorge Cheaitelly and Mohamad El Khansa. OFAC's designated action was taken under pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these entities and individuals and freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
Jorge Cheaitelly allegedly runs an extensive money laundering network based in Panama and Colombia with ties to Mexico, Lebanon, and Hong Kong. The OFAC designated act exposes these individuals money laundering network to the international financial system and undermines their ability to launder drug money through a global support network for the Mexican and Colombian drug cartels, according to OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin.
Jorge Cheaitelly leads a Panama-based drug trafficking and money laundering organization that stretches across the globe, spanning the Americas, the Middle East, and Hong Kong. OFAC action targets key Colombian members of the Cheaitelly/El Khansa criminal organization, including Cali-based money launderer Jaime Edery Crivosei, Barranquilla-based drug trafficker Benny Issa Fawaz and Maicao-based money launderer Ali Mohamad Saleh. Jorge Cheaitelly’s key financial associates are also targeted, including his siblings, Jaime Fadlallah Cheaitelly, Guiseppe Ali Cheaitelly Saheli, and Fatima Fadlallath Cheaitelly, and two Lebanon-based associates, Fawaz Mohamad Rahall and Ahmed El Khansa.
OFAC's action also targets 28 companies controlled by Jorge Cheaitelly and Mohamad El Khansa and their associates in Panama, Colombia and Hong Kong. Among OFAC's designations are several money exchange businesses in Panama - Eurocambio, S.A., Euro Exchange Y Financial Commerce, Inc. (a.k.a. Eurex) and General Commerce Overseas, Inc. – as well as Junior International S.A., Global Technology Import & Export, S.A. (GTI), and Fedco Import & Export, S.A., import export businesses located in Panama’s Colon Free Zone that are part of the Cheaitelly/El Khansa financial network. Junior International S.A. is affiliated with the significant Lebanese drug trafficker and money launderer, Ayman Joumaa, who was designated under the Kingpin Act in January 2011. Cheaitelly replaced Ayman company with Joumaa's brothers who are also designated as narcotics traffickers.
Several front companies located in Maicao, Colombia were also designated including electronics stores Bodega Electro Giorgio and Almacen Electro Sony Star, general merchandise businesses Family Fedco and Comercial Globanty, and luggage stores Almacen Batul and Comercial Estilo y Moda. Two businesses controlled by Cali-based money launderer Jaime Edery Crivosei, Agropecuaria La Perla Ltda and KPD S.A., were also designated. OFAC also designated Polyton (Asia) Limited, a company located in Hong Kong, for acting for or on behalf of Guiseppe Ali Cheaitelly Saheli.
The Treasury actions in Thursday was made in close coordination with investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the New York City Police Department.
Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1.075 million per violation to more severe criminal penalties. Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines pursuant to Title 18 of the United States Code for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act.
Criminal organization chart and photos (PDF) of affiliates of Cheaitelly and El Khansa at link: http://1.usa.gov/t5JOoj
Connected by MOTOBLUR™ on T-Mobile
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