US charges Lebanese 'Hizballah financier' extradited by Morocco

US authorities arrested a long-wanted alleged Hizballah financier Friday on charges of violating US terror-related sanctions, after he was apparently deported to the United States from Morocco.

Kassim Tajideen was formally charged in a US federal court in Washington nearly eight years after the United States named him a "specially designated global terrorist" for allegedly providing tens of millions of dollars to the Lebanese Shia movement.

He was charged with multiple counts of violating US terrorism sanctions regulations as well as money laundering.

According to multiple media reports, Tajideen was arrested on arrival in Casablanca on 12 March upon a request by US authorities.

He arrived in the United States early Friday, but the Justice Department would not confirm that he had been handed over to the United States by Morocco.

Tajideen, 62, pleaded innocent to the charges, according to a Justice Department statement.

A commodities trader across the Middle East and Africa, Tajideen was given the terror finance designation in May 2009, which carries sanctions that largely locked him out of global financial networks. The designation named him an "important financial contributor" to Hizballah.

"Because of his support for Hizballah, a major international terrorist group, the US government imposed sanctions on Kassim Tajideen in 2009 that barred him from doing business with US individuals and companies," Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco said in a statement.

But the charges unveiled Friday did not accuse him of any recent provision of financial support to Hizballah.

Because of his support for Hizballah, a major international terrorist group, the US government imposed sanctions on Kassim Tajideen in 2009 that barred him from doing business with US individuals and companies. - Kenneth Blanco

Instead, he was accused of restructuring his business organisation after the 2009 designation in order to evade the sanctions and continue doing business with US companies. 

That included buying commodities from US exporters and making wire transfers payments for them worth a total of $27 million.

The US firms involved in those transactions were unaware they were involved with him, the charges said.

Writing about Tajideen on Thursday, Hanin Ghaddar and Sarah Feuer of the Washington Institute think tank said Tajideen remained an important backer of Hizballah.

"In addition to the revenues he secured for Hizballah, his company Tajco has been involved in a number of residential projects located in strategic areas of Lebanon," they said.

Ghaddar and Feuer said that although Morocco would not confirm that Washington had asked for his arrest, "such cooperation would be in keeping with Morocco's emergence as a key counterterrorism partner in recent years."