Art collector who financed Hezbollah evaded sanctions, prosecutors say
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Saturday, November 2, 2024


Art collector who financed Hezbollah evaded sanctions, prosecutors say
The Lebanese businessman Nazem Ahmad has owned Picassos and Warhols. He and eight others were charged with violating sanctions by trading in paintings and diamonds in the United States. Photo: Alexander Schimmeck.

by Karen Zraick



NEW YORK, NY.- A Lebanese art collector accused of financing the militant group Hezbollah evaded U.S. sanctions using a complex web of businesses to disguise millions of dollars in transactions involving art and diamonds, according to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday.

Nazem Ahmad and eight others were also charged with money laundering and conspiring to defraud U.S. and foreign governments. His accountant, Sundar Nagarajan, was arrested in Britain Tuesday at the request of American prosecutors; the remaining defendants, including Ahmad, are at large outside the United States, authorities said.

The indictment was part of a raft of actions aimed at Ahmad’s global operations, all announced on the 40th anniversary of an attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, which the United States blames on Hezbollah. The group, which is both an armed movement and a political party, is supported by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against 52 individuals and entities linked to Ahmad in nine countries, emphasizing that the murky nature of the art and luxury goods markets had been used to launder illicit proceeds.

“Luxury good market participants should be attentive to these potential tactics and schemes, which allow terrorist financiers, money launderers, and sanctions evaders to launder illicit proceeds through the purchase and consignment of luxury goods,” Brian E. Nelson, the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

In a coordinated action, the British authorities froze Ahmad’s assets Tuesday. The authorities said he had an extensive art collection and business in Britain with many artists, galleries and auction houses.

In December 2019, the Treasury Department charged that Ahmad was one of Hezbollah’s top donors and traded in what are known as “blood diamonds,” or gems that are sold to fuel wars.

His extensive art collection at the time included works by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, and many were displayed in his Beirut penthouse, the department said, calling his purchases of high-value art a “preemptive attempt” to get around sanctions. He was accused not just of funding Hezbollah but also personally providing funds to its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Ahmad has maintained a lively presence on Instagram, where he has 172,000 followers and posts works by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Barbara Kruger.

The sanctions prohibited Ahmad from engaging in most transactions with people in the United States, but he continued trading under the cover of corporate entities based in various countries as well as individuals, prosecutors contend.

Those people included his daughter Hind Ahmad, 30, who runs galleries in Lebanon and Ivory Coast. In a phone interview from Beirut late Tuesday, Hind Ahmad vigorously disputed the allegations. She said she was unaware of the case in federal court and had only just learned that she and her galleries were named in the Treasury Department’s announcement.




“I would have never imagined this would ever be possible,” she said.

She said the notion that her father was a financier for Hezbollah was absurd. She said the allegations sounded like a fantastical Bollywood movie, and she believed they stemmed from lies told by rivals in Lebanon.

Her father, 58, faced similar charges in Belgium years ago and was declared innocent, she said. She added that she is due to give birth in two weeks.

A lawyer that she said represents her father in the United States did not immediately return a call for comment.

The investigation by the office of the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn uncovered about $440 million worth of imports and exports, primarily of artwork and diamonds, to the United States by entities linked to Ahmad after the sanctions were imposed. About $160 million worth of transactions went through the U.S. financial system.

Prosecutors said the Eastern District had jurisdiction because, among other reasons, diamonds and artwork traveled through Kennedy International Airport.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs is assisting with extradition in the case; Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, but other countries cited in the indictment do.

The defendants used a U.S.-based diamond-grading service to set prices for about 1,546 carats of diamonds, according to the indictment. In March 2021, they had a 45-carat diamond valued at $80 million shipped to New York to be graded.

They also are accused of obtaining art worth more than $1 million from the United States — although they undervalued the work to avoid tariffs, the indictment said.

The transactions cited included several with a Chicago art gallery and others in New York. One piece, by Chicago-based artist Luke Agada, was purchased with a wire transfer through a U.S. banking institution, the indictment said.

Ahmad posted an image of it on Instagram about 10 months ago. It depicts a woman with an old-fashioned telephone atop her head, holding a cardboard box marked “EVIDENCE.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

April 21, 2023

The Kylix Marvel: Why experts distrust the story of an ancient cup's rebirth

Warhol's Mick Jagger seizes the spotlight in Heritage's $1.5 million Prints & Multiples Auction

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map now on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art

'Sherrill Roland: do without, do within' on view at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

rodolphe janssen opens the first solo show of Dan McCarthy in the Brussels gallery

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco celebrates transformative gift with publication Native American Art

Joy Oladokun's therapeutic folk-pop searches for hope. It's resonating.

Dallas Museum of Art acquires 12 works from 2023 Dallas Art Fair

Emily Carr masterpiece on auction for $1.5 mil once priced at $400, on view in Vancouver

GRAY Chicago opens an exhibition of works by Jaume Plensa

Blair Tindall, whose music memoir scandalized, dies at 63

Happy 100th birthday, 16-millimeter film

Review: Pushing 100, the Martha Graham Dance Company leans into youth

Art collector who financed Hezbollah evaded sanctions, prosecutors say

Marina Pinsky: Infinite Play opened in Brussels at La Loge

Kali Uchis is a complicated musician. She plans to stay that way.

Review: Flying high and falling hard in 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong'

Asian and Islamic works of art auction on April 26 at Olympia Auctions

$25 million from Perelman Family Foundation to establish arts district at Brown

Holabird / Finest Known will team for an auction on April 29th

Marvelbet Cricket Betting Review & Promotions

Mostbet Mobile App: Download APK for Android

HOW TO USE SHOPIFY DEVELOPMENT SERVICES TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL E-COMMERCE STORE WITH NODE.JS

Sheets that stay cool

Unfolding the Art of Origami: From Traditional to Modern Techniques

The Los Angeles Investor's Guide to Real Estate Success

Art in Music: Five Ways to Appeal to Fans with Artwork




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful