Akram Saied Joumaa
Akram Saied Joumaa was designated by U.S. Treasury in January 2011 for involvement in the Ayman Joumaa drug-trafficking and money-laundering organization. Treasury identified him as Ayman Joumaa’s brother and as chief executive and general manager of Caesar’s Park Hotel, which it said the organization used as a place to broker drug-trafficking and laundering activities. The release establishes a named management and network role, but does not identify an Akram-specific drug shipment or Hezbollah payment. OFAC removed Akram on 4 April 2016.[1][2][3]
Historical action
Treasury designated Ayman Joumaa and related individuals and entities under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. It named brothers Akram, Anwar and Mohamad Said Joumma for involvement in the organization’s drug-trafficking or money-laundering activities. The wording does not specify which of the two activity categories applied to each brother in each instance; it is inaccurate to invent an individual operational assignment beyond the release.[1][2]
Attributed role
The 2011 announcement singled out Akram as the chief executive and general manager of Caesar’s Park Hotel. Treasury said the organization used the hotel as a location to broker trafficking and money-laundering activity. The source does not identify dates of particular meetings, participants at them or the amount of money negotiated there. The management position and venue allegation are the direct facts supporting this profile.[1][2]
Removal in April 2016
OFAC removed Akram Saied Joumaa on 4 April 2016, including the alias Akram Said Jomaa Youssef. The same notice removed Anwar Saied Joumaa, Mohamad Said Joumaa and Caesar’s Park Hotel. It did not remove Ayman Joumaa in those entries and did not explain the individual reasons. The removal is a documented administrative outcome; it does not itself establish that a criminal trial ended in acquittal.[3]
Ownership and management
The amended complaint in the Lebanese Canadian Bank civil case described Caesar’s Park Hotel as owned by Ayman Joumaa and the Hassan Ayash Exchange principal office as adjacent to it. That pleading is consistent with distinguishing the owner it named from Akram’s management role in the earlier Treasury release. Neither record supplies an individual hotel ledger showing payments handled by Akram.[4][1]
Scope and distinctions
Treasury also named Anwar Saied Joumaa and Mohamad Said Joumma as brothers designated for involvement in the organization, without specifying each brother’s individual drug or laundering task. Its hotel account identifies Akram’s management role and an alleged brokering venue, while separately listing shipping, electronics and commercial companies as controlled by network members, not necessarily by Akram.[1][2]
Network amounts and individual attribution
Treasury’s January 2011 estimate of as much as $200 million in monthly laundering concerned the wider organization operating through cash-smuggling and exchange-house channels. It did not assign that amount to Akram or to hotel revenues. Similarly, the release’s list of shipping, electronics and commercial companies described ownership or control by network members; it did not identify Akram as owner of every company.[1]
Related case record
Akram’s documented relationship is to Ayman Joumaa’s organization and the designated hotel. Later official accounts describe the wider Joumaa network as benefiting Hezbollah, but the cited 2011 release makes no Akram-specific Hezbollah finding. The announcement does not establish his membership in Hezbollah or a transfer of hotel earnings to the group.[1][2]
Analytical context
Binstok, Mizrahi and Klor’s May 2026 INSS analysis describes a decentralized financial structure using intermediaries, trade and informal settlement. Its contribution here is to distinguish the attributed brokering venue from the exchanges and payment channels in the wider record. It supplies no personal Akram transaction, organizational-membership finding or allocation of the network’s proceeds.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Treasury targets major Lebanese-based drug trafficking and money laundering network, 26 January 2011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Treasury Identifies Lebanese Canadian Bank Sal as a “Primary Money Laundering Concern” | U.S. Department of the Treasury
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 OFAC 20160404
- ↑ United States v. Lebanese Canadian Bank et al., amended civil complaint
- ↑ Hezbollah’s Global Financial Network as a Target in the War Against the Organization
Legal and sanctions status as of 1 September 2026.