Two New York men have been charged in connection with operating a multimillion-dollar hawala scheme. According to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Mohanad Al-Zubaidi and Shaker Saleh Mohammed Hauter facilitated the illegal transfer of over $65 million between the United States and several Middle Eastern countries.
The scheme, operating from roughly 2018 to 2022, saw Al-Zubaidi, 37, and Hauter, 52, earning commissions up to six percent per transaction. Involved in hundreds of such transfers, their proceeds reached from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They were sentenced to three years in prison, following their guilty plea on January 15, in front of U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who imposed the sentence yesterday, running a hawala business without a license.
"Mohanad Al-Zubaidi and Shaker Saleh Mohammed Hauter ran an underground financial network that illegally transferred tens of millions of dollars between the United States and the Middle East," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton articulated in court. "The sentences imposed yesterday send a clear message that those who operate these unlawful financing networks will be held accountable," according to a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office. This hawala system, often associated with money laundering and other illicit activities, allowed the two men to move criminal proceeds abroad with ease, bypassing the traditional banking systems and evading detection.
Following the court's ruling, both men were sentenced to two years of supervised release. Additionally, they were ordered to pay forfeitures of $385,000 for Al-Zubaidi and $430,000 for Hauter, reflecting the commissions they earned from facilitating numerous illicit money transfers. The case was managed by the Office's General Crimes Unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew J. King and Amanda C. Weingarten leading the prosecution. Mr. Clayton commended the investigative efforts that resulted in these convictions, highlighting the outstanding work of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
