The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on three individuals and two charities it says helped move more than $2 million to Hamas through deceptive aid fundraising and cryptocurrency transfers. The action names Saleem al-Zaq, described by Treasury as a deputy battalion commander in Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, along with France-based fundraisers Faouzi Barika and Amel Oualid and the charities Association Baraka and Ensemble C Mieux.

The Justice Department also unsealed charges against al-Zaq and said six arrests were made. US authorities allege the network blended conventional money transfers, charitable appeals and digital assets to route funds to Hamas while trying to make the trail harder to follow.

Treasury allegations and sanctions

According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the sanctioned network operated for years and sent funds to Hamas through what Treasury called sham charitable fronts and cryptocurrency channels. Treasury said the scheme moved more than $2 million in total, though it did not break down exactly how much of that amount traveled through crypto.

Treasury alleges that Barika and Oualid, who ran Association Baraka and Ensemble C Mieux, raised money under the claim of supporting civilians in Gaza and then passed funds to al-Zaq. It says al-Zaq in turn sent the money to the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

The sanctions announcement did not include wallet addresses. Treasury nevertheless said Barika and Oualid transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in digital assets to al-Zaq.

How the network allegedly moved money

Authorities say donations were gathered in France and first pooled through traditional financial channels. Chainalysis said some of the funds were collected in a French bank account before being moved onward.

Prosecutors allege al-Zaq initially received money through Western Union but later asked a France-based partner to send Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency instead. In December 2021, he allegedly made that request in an effort to make the transfers more difficult to trace.

US officials say the network also shifted between crypto platforms when scrutiny increased. After one exchange asked about the source of funds in May 2023, the partner allegedly moved activity to another platform.

What blockchain investigators found

Treasury’s case was supported by blockchain analysis that traced links around exchange deposit addresses allegedly tied to al-Zaq. Chainalysis said it identified a counterparty connected to one such deposit address.

That counterparty, according to the account in the source report, also sent funds to exchange addresses that had previously received money from Hamas-linked wallets targeted in Israeli seizure orders. The article did not say this amounted to a direct on-chain transfer from the sanctioned charities to those earlier wallets, but presented it as part of the broader evidentiary picture.

Charges, arrests and the next step

The Justice Department has unsealed charges against al-Zaq, while announcing six arrests connected to the case. Prosecutors say al-Zaq and his associates raised about $1.75 million through December 2025, including at least $626,000 from donors in the United States.

That figure sits alongside Treasury’s broader claim that the wider network moved more than $2 million to Hamas. The sanctions now block any property or interests in property of the designated people and entities that fall under US jurisdiction, while the criminal case against al-Zaq and the related arrests mark the next confirmed stage in the government’s response.

Source: beincrypto.com