A Vancouver company has been sanctioned by the United States government for its alleged ties to a $100-million network accused of financing Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Seven Seas for International Trading and Logistics was added to the U.S. sanctions list in a move that targeted 16 individuals and entities in the Middle East and Canada.
The sanctions allege the co-founder and chief executive officer of the B.C. company is Raoof Fadel, who is based in Qatar and involved with the “Hezbollah finance team.”
Corporate records obtained by Global News show the sanctioned Canadian company was registered in B.C. in 2022 and remains active as 1380892 B.C. LTD.
Its directors are listed as Fadel, as well as Mohamad Wehbe and Ahmed Wehbe, all of whom are described in the records as residents of Qatar.
In addition to sanctioning their B.C. company, the U.S. Treasury also imposed sanctions on Fadel and Mohamad Wehbe, who are both Lebanese citizens.
They could not be reached for comment.
The company’s corporate registration was completed by a Winnipeg consulting firm, while its registered address is a Vancouver law firm, the records shows.
Neither responded to requests for comment. The company is not sanctioned in Canada. The federal government has not responded to questions.
The B.C. government said it was reaching out to federal authorities, who are responsible for national security, before taking any action.
‘Axis of resistance’
Hezbollah is part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance,” a collection of armed extremist groups that serve Tehran’s interests throughout the Middle East.
A listed terrorist organization in Canada, which calls it a “radical Shia group,” Hezbollah is part of the current conflict launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.
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Canada’s national security agencies have long reported that the international Hezbollah fundraising network was active in the country.
A 2022 Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada terrorist financing alert warned about Hezbollah’s activities.
It warned that, after the Islamic State, Hezbollah was the international terrorist group most frequently detected moving money across borders.
The bulk of the money went to Lebanon, often laundered through auto sales, FINTRAC wrote in its operational alert to financial institutions.
In January, Global News reported that a Lebanese auto trader living in Ontario on a work permit, Fahed Sowane, was allegedly laundering money “to benefit Hezbollah.”
While Sowane, who denies the allegations, faces deportation over the allegations, enforcement action related to Hezbollah is rare in Canada.
“Governments must do more to ensure that Canada is not used as a safe haven for Iran’s Islamic regime and its proxies that threaten global security and target civilians,” said Nico Slobinsky of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
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“We are calling for strengthened enforcement measures, enhanced scrutiny and removal of regime‑linked actors operating in Canada, and firm action to disrupt any financial or logistical support for designated terrorist organizations.”
‘Hezbollah financial schemes’
Amid the war on Iran, the U.S. announced on Friday that it was sanctioning the B.C. company for its alleged role in a network led by Alaa Hamieh, whom it called a “Hezbollah financier.”
Hamieh, who holds Lebanese and Canadian passports, “owns, directly or indirectly, multiple Hezbollah-associated companies,” the U.S. Treasury said.
“Alaa Hamieh oversees a network of companies, controlled through family members and close associates, that launder and raise funds for Hezbollah’s finance team.”
Located in Lebanon, Syria, Poland, Slovenia, Qatar, and Canada, the network has been involved in projects “estimated to have enabled the diversion of over $100 million since 2020,” it said.
“This network represents a critical source of funding for Hezbollah, which continues to embrace violence despite calls to disarm.”
The director of the B.C. company, Fadel, is “involved in numerous projects with Alaa Hamieh and the Hezbollah finance team,” according to the allegations.
They include “Hezbollah-associated Seven Seas for International Trading and Logistics, which is the Canadian branch of Alaa Hamieh’s similarly named Lebanese companies.”
The listing provides Hamieh’s Canadian passport number. Another Canadian passport holder, Usama Ali, allegedly runs the Hamas financing office.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
Canada spending time and money on targeting their own citizens for.profit usingilitary contractors, and by the sounds of this article, With full knowledge of those turn coats in power, the world.knows money laundering is also going on with glief snd smart contracts in canada and there is zero Canadian investigation or oversight.. ask yourself why, and then you will understand why our immigration will not change tk including checks and balances.. b3cause everyone is great, its those born Canadians that are the problem, those colonists.
I am so fed up with our Canadian government. Why did the U.S. have to point that out to us. Why did our government not figure that one out.
Why does the United States have to tell us this?
Canadian government should be ashamed.
Shut this down now and make arrests.
John Parkinson – “security thing remain un finished.” Well that pretty much sums it up right there doesn’t it. You and Doug Brekfaust should hang out. You guys are definitely on the same level of intelligence
it will take another 5 years for the liberals to get the rag out and do something intelligent, lots of other security thing remain un finished.
Christian white nationalists are the real terrorists in Canada
Isn’t it funny how Doug Brekfaust can’t reply to one of my posts with out hitting the “I know you are but what am I?” button. Angry old white people are so predictable
Who cares what Doug Brekfaust says. He’s a delusional N A Z I
Who cares what the USA does. Their president is a delusional ped0phile
Lol JV you are only one ranting here. I wonder if the irony is lost on you in that your rants are actually the most racists comments on here.
Travel a bit JV. You will find out pretty quickly every race out there has its own superior feelings and prejudices against others within their own country.
Fact of life. If your culture was smarter and more advanced than you’d be on top here.
Terrorists? Like the white nationalists in Alberta?
Lol look a Doug Brekfaust go off on another one of his delusional rants. How did old white people get to be so stupid?
Kick the terrorists and criminals out of Canada and the Liberal Party will sink to “No Party Status” come next election
Once again we have to rely on the US to advise us of these terrorist organizations operating within Canada.
Global News, maybe find a better source to comment on this than someone from the Center for Israel. Very rich of them to call out Hezbollah for targeting civilians when Israel has kill’d more civilians than any other state in recent history.
Pretty sure where there is smoke there is fire. From the old days of the IRA and Cuba to the Sikhs, people have always used the relative safety of NA to raise funds and organise “resistance” and trouble back home.
This comes from someone with an Irish passport too.
Meanwhile we probably give them money . Diversity is our strength
Quoting 1 terrorist group fundraiser (Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs) as being against another group is just bad journalism. – quit quoting Israel sources as a voice of reason.
Why is it ok for 1 country to be here raising funds, and not another? – How may Israelis have died, and how many Muslim? Which 1 is more destructive?
In order to handle this correctly, first we’d need a competent federal gov’t. Though that seems unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Why is this “company” not sanctioned in Canada?