Hamdi Zaher El Dine
Hamdi Zaher El Dine was designated by U.S. Treasury in January 2016 under Executive Order 13224 for providing financial services to or in support of Hezbollah. Treasury described him as a Trade Point International employee who worked with Mohamad Noureddine on transfers for Adham Tabaja’s business network. A 2026 Treasury announcement described his direction of gold and cash exchanges through relatives and associates. Those records set out Treasury’s Hezbollah-financing allegations; they do not identify a Hamdi-specific cocaine transaction.[1][2]
2016 designation and financial services
Treasury designated El Dine alongside Noureddine and Trade Point. It said El Dine worked with Noureddine to transfer money for Tabaja and employees of Al-Inmaa Engineering and Contracting. The company was separately designated for being owned or controlled by Noureddine. The action against El Dine was a terrorism-related financial sanction, not a narcotics conviction.[1]
The 28 January 2016 Treasury release distinguished the grounds for the three designations. El Dine and Noureddine were designated for financial services to or in support of Hezbollah; Trade Point was designated because Noureddine owned or controlled it. Treasury described Noureddine’s wider services as money laundering, bulk-cash transport and black-market currency exchange, supported by contacts across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The owner’s broader network does not make every described service an individually documented act by El Dine.[1]
European investigation and narcotics context
DEA’s February 2016 European drug-money-laundering announcement named Noureddine and repeated the Treasury designations of Noureddine, El Dine and Trade Point. DEA’s network-level findings about cocaine proceeds and couriers do not supply an individual drug transaction for El Dine. His NARCOPEDIA relevance is a documented financial relationship to Noureddine and Trade Point, with the narcotics connection kept contextual rather than asserted as direct.[3]
DEA said its European investigation began in February 2015 and developed from the Lebanese Canadian Bank investigation. David Asher’s June 2017 testimony placed coordinated European raids on 24–25 January 2016, before Treasury’s 28 January designations and DEA’s 1 February public account. DEA described a network collecting cocaine proceeds in Europe and returning value to traffickers through laundering arrangements. The network account provides context for El Dine’s association with Noureddine; it does not identify a separate El Dine drug shipment or criminal judgment.[3][4]
Later gold and cash exchanges
In a 2026 action, Treasury said El Dine directed several Lebanese gold and cash exchanges through family members and associates despite not appearing in their formal ownership structures. It identified his sister’s roles at Yousef Ibrahim Mansour and Partner for Exchange and Gold Pro SARL, and described gold purchases through hawala and couriers. Treasury designated named relatives, associates and companies under E.O. 13224 for support to El Dine or his control. These are attributed agency findings about financing and sanctions evasion.[2]
The later announcement, dated 10 September 2026, named El Dine’s sister as Mervat Jamil Zahreldine. Treasury said she held a position at Yousef Ibrahim Mansour and Partner for Exchange and power of attorney at Gold Pro SARL. It alleged that El Dine bought gold in Dubai through hawala arrangements and had couriers bring it to Lebanon, while Gold Pro lacked a Lebanese central-bank license to import gold.[2]
Treasury also alleged that Amir Al-Makansi operated a Syrian gold exchange with Istanbul offices at El Dine’s direction and used Lebanese exchanges to obtain large-denomination currency for him. The release did not name that company. Mervat and Al-Makansi were designated for supporting El Dine; YIM Exchange and Gold Pro were designated on control, direction or acting-on-his-behalf grounds. Those grounds do not require the release to identify him as a formal shareholder.[2]
Scope of the financial allegations
Treasury’s 2016 account named Tabaja and employees of Al-Inmaa Engineering and Contracting as recipients of transfers on which El Dine worked with Noureddine. The release provided no amount for his particular transfers, and the 2026 gold and cash exchange action concerns a later period rather than a retrospective cocaine finding.[1][2]
Financial mechanisms
Noam Binstok, Orna Mizrahi and Esteban Klor’s May 2026 INSS analysis explains how hawala obligations can be settled by offsets and trade rather than a matching bank transfer between the original payer and recipient. Their discussion helps distinguish cash collection, gold or goods movement, and settlement of value. Applied as context here, it explains why an alleged exchange network may combine several services. It does not independently establish El Dine’s transactions, their amounts, or a narcotics origin for the gold purchases described by Treasury.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Treasury Sanctions Key Hizballah Money Laundering Network, 28 January 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 U.S. Treasury, Operation Economic Outcast Strikes Iran’s Global Terrorist Proxy Network, 10 September 2026
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 DEA and European Authorities Uncover Massive Hizballah Drug and Money Laundering Scheme, 1 February 2016
- ↑ Download the full testimony here.
- ↑ Hezbollah’s Global Financial Network as a Target in the War Against the Organization
Legal and sanctions status as of 7 September 2026.