U.S. Treasury sanctions ISIS financial facilitators across Europe, Middle East and West Africa

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U.S. Treasury sanctions ISIS financiers

Highlights

OFAC designates three individuals and six entities across Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa for facilitating ISIS financial transactions under Executive Order 13224.
Treasury highlights shifting ISIS financing toward decentralized networks, citing its 2026 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment and FinCEN’s April 2025 advisory as evidence of fragmentation.
Sanctions block all U.S.-related property of designated persons, bar U.S. persons from related transactions, and expose foreign banks to potential secondary sanctions for significant prohibited dealings.

Sanctions target cross-border ISIS funding channels

As reported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, designates three individuals and six entities across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa for facilitating financial transactions on behalf of ISIS under Executive Order 13224, as amended. Treasury says the measures are aimed at disrupting financial links between ISIS regional affiliates and the group’s wider operating structure.

Treasury says ISIS increasingly relies on decentralized cells and affiliates, with facilitators helping move funds between those networks and the group’s General Directorate of Provinces. The department points to its 2026 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment and FinCEN’s April 2025 advisory as evidence that sustained counterterrorism pressure has pushed ISIS toward more fragmented financing methods.

The designated individuals include France-based Miloud Abderrahmane, Syria-based Abdelhakim Boukich and Mohamad Alhmidan, who was previously sanctioned in March 2016. Treasury says Boukich controls Syria-based money service business Bitcoin Xchange, while Alhmidan owns Turkiye-based Spider Gayrimenkul Ve Genel Ticaret Limited Sirketi and Alkaram Danismanlik Gayrimenkul Ic Ve Dis Genel Ticaret Limited Sirketi, which authorities say operated on behalf of Spider.

West Africa focus and compliance risks

Treasury also designates Nigeria-based Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, described as an ISIS in West Africa financial facilitator, along with Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau de Change Limited, Manhattan Bureau de Change Limited and Generation Currency Bureau de Change Limited. The department says the three Nigerian businesses are owned, controlled or directed by Muhammad and were involved in money transfers on behalf of ISIS-WA.

The move follows President Trump’s May 16, 2026 announcement of the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki in an operation involving the United States Department of War and the Government of Nigeria. Treasury presents that development as part of broader U.S.-Nigeria cooperation against ISIS, including efforts to counter terrorist financing and protect religious minorities targeted by the group.

Under the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Treasury says U.S. persons are generally barred from transactions involving blocked persons unless authorized or exempt, while foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions for sanctioned persons may face secondary sanctions and restrictions on correspondent or payable-through accounts in the United States.

Our earlier report on the money-laundering case involving Geoffrey K. Auyeung detailed how alleged fraud proceeds were routed through dozens of bank accounts and multiple cryptocurrency exchange accounts to obscure the flow of funds. The investigation described large-scale transfers, offshore movements, and significant crypto seizures and forfeiture orders, highlighting the compliance risks posed by complex, multi-rail financial networks.

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