A 38-year-old San Diego man is facing federal charges after prosecutors say he turned online charity drives into a pipeline for Hamas. Investigators allege he mixed social media pleas, crowdfunding campaigns and a registered nonprofit to pull in donations that never made it to the humanitarian causes donors thought they were supporting. Instead, federal officials say, the money helped fuel the kind of online networks that can quietly bankroll designated terrorist organizations.
Federal complaint lays out money trail and alleged transfers
According to a criminal complaint unsealed this week, federal prosecutors say Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, raised roughly $600,000 through online appeals and used an organization called Ikram - The Arab Charity Foundation Inc. to solicit donations. Prosecutors allege he diverted about $116,000 directly to a Hamas member and earmarked roughly $382,000 to be converted to cryptocurrency and sent through a fundraising network called Gaza Now, as reported by FinChannel.
Charity at the center
Ikram - The Arab Charity Foundation Inc. is a small California nonprofit that lists Sabassi as a principal and reported roughly $638,627 in revenue for 2024, according to filings reviewed by ProPublica. Public records indicate the group did distribute some aid before federal authorities seized remaining funds in connection with the investigation.
Investigators say online tools helped hide the flow
Prosecutors say the alleged scheme leaned heavily on the anonymity and speed of the internet, combining public social media posts, crowdfunding pages and digital-payment channels to obscure where donations were really headed. The complaint alleges Sabassi and an unnamed co-conspirator even floated naming one fundraising drive after Hamas’s military wing before deciding to run it under the charity’s banner instead.
Gaza Now and cryptocurrency
U.S. authorities had already flagged Gaza Now as a channel that sought cryptocurrency and other donations after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. The Treasury Department designated Gaza Now and related individuals in a March 2024 sanctions action, saying the outlet engaged in fundraising that could support Hamas, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. That move is part of broader efforts to track and freeze crypto wallets that investigators tie to alleged extremist fundraising.
Legal implications
Sabassi is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, sanctions violations, wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. According to the complaint and prosecutors, those counts carry potential prison terms of up to 20 years for the most serious offenses and up to five years for the false-statements charge, as reported by FinChannel. The case is being handled by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York with assistance from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, and no trial date has been set.
What investigators say and what comes next
The investigation has involved the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces in New York and San Diego, along with agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to the complaint. If the government seeks an indictment, the case will move into the grand-jury process and pretrial stages in Manhattan federal court.
The allegations have not been proven, and Sabassi is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted at trial. Federal officials say the case highlights growing scrutiny of how online fundraising and cryptocurrency can be twisted for darker purposes, a pointed reminder for donors to vet charities carefully and for platforms to tighten their guardrails.
