The Department of Justice has charged a California man with five counts, alleging that the individual conspired with the terrorist group HAMAS and provided the group hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The complaint unsealed on Wednesday charges Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego, with terrorism, sanctions-evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statement charges in connection with his efforts to divert funds raised through purported charitable campaigns to Hamas and for personal use. He was arrested in San Diego on Tuesday and presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Chu in the Southern District of California, according to the DOJ.
Prosecutors tied Sabassi’s alleged crimes to the foreign terrorist organization Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya, commonly known as Hamas, and its actions on Oct. 7, 2023, that resulted in more than 1,200 lives lost including murders of children and the elderly, 251 hostages taken in Gaza, and countless cases of rape across 20 communities, the Nova music festival, and a military installation.
“As alleged in the complaint, the defendant exploited the barbaric acts of terror perpetrated on Oct. 7, 2023, to attract donors to his fraudulent ‘humanitarian’ causes,” said John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, in a statement. “He allegedly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through this scheme, which he then funneled to Hamas to help finance that group’s terror and violence and to line his own pockets. As demonstrated by today’s charges, NSD will investigate and prosecute those who fund terrorism.”
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, who could eventually become the next director of national intelligence, said the arrest of Sabassi “demonstrates our whole-of-government commitment to prosecute those who provide financial support to a malign terrorist regime that hates America.”
Sabassi’s four charges associated with terrorism, sanctions, wire fraud and money laundering each carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The false statement charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
What Led to Sabassi’s Arrest
Prosecutors in the legal complaint described how Sabassi allegedly publicly supported the Oct. 7 attacks perpetrated by Hamas.
“The defendant allegedly claimed to be raising money for charity but was actually funding the terrorist organization Hamas and also lining his own pockets,” said Assistant Director Donald Holstead, of the FBI’s counterterrorism division.
Sabassi allegedly created an hour-long “propaganda video” of the Oct. 7 attacks and posted it to at least two of his social media accounts, including a few months after the initial attacks and again on the two-year anniversary. He is accused, since at least in or about 2022, to have used his social media accounts, crowdfunding websites, and a putative charity called Ikram—The Arab Charity Foundation Inc.—to solicit donations worldwide, including from individuals in the United States and New York.
He purportedly claimed in online fundraising campaigns to be raising funds to provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, when he was actually raising said funds for Hamas. Sabassi and a co-conspirator allegedly privately joked that they should name the fundraiser after Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, before agreeing to use Sabassi’s Ikram.
Money funneling was allegedly conducted through a Hamas fundraising organization called Gaza Now and other co-conspirators that operated online fundraisers and then sent funds to Hamas.
Prosecutors said that between, in or about December 2023 and in or about February 2024, Sabassi raised a total of approximately $600,000 through online fundraising campaigns—of which Sabassi sent approximately $116,000 to a Hamas member and attempted to convert approximately $382,000 of the cash he raised into cryptocurrency to send to Hamas through Gaza Now.
“As alleged, Reda Sabassi raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the death and tragedy Hamas seeks to carry out,” said assistant director in charge James Barnacle Jr. of the FBI New York Field Office. “Alongside our federal partners, the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force continues to aggressively eradicate fundraisers financing terrorist organizations, and hold accountable those behind the campaign.”
This case is being handled by the Office’s Illicit Finance & Money Laundering Unit and the National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Ong, Ben Arad, Sarah Kushner and Juliana Murray for the Southern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from trial attorney Andrew Briggs of the Counterterrorism Section, and Acting Deputy Chief Sean Heiden of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
