Lebanese Mohammad Bazzi arrested in Romania, US seeks extradition to NY

According to the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, Bazzi was designated as a global terrorist in May 2018 for his financial and material support to Hezbollah. The Office also alleges that Bazzi is a major funder of the group, having provided millions of dollars to Hezbollah over the years through his business activities in Belgium, Lebanon, Iraq, and throughout West Africa.

The US Department of Justice states that Bazzi and another person named Talal Chahine conspired to coerce or induce individuals in the US to liquidate their interests and some real estate holdings in Michigan and covertly transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from the proceeds of the liquidation from the US to Bazzi and Chahine in Lebanon. For example, Bazzi and Chahine proposed transferring funds through four separate third parties: one in China as part of a fake purchase of restaurant equipment from a Chinese factory, one in Lebanon as part of a fake real estate purchase, one in Kuwait through Chahine's family members as part of fake loans, and one in the US as part of a fake licensing agreement in exchange for operating rights for a restaurant chain based in Lebanon.

The US government intends to request Bazzi's extradition to face trial in New York. It remains to be seen whether they will succeed in this mission, as was the case after the arrest of Qassim Tajuddin in Morocco, who spent three years in prison in the US and was released due to health reasons, which some considered to be part of a deal that also led to the release of Amer Fakhoury from prison in Lebanon. Or whether they will fail, as was the case after the arrest of Ali Fayad in Prague in 2014, who was released in 2016 and is currently wanted by the US on charges of arms trafficking and providing material support to Hezbollah.