January 26, 2011, 3:06 PM ET

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2011/01/26/treasury-sanctions-lebanese-drug-and-money-laundering-network/

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced Wednesday it sanctioned Lebanese narcotics trafficker Ayman Joumaa along with others in his network.

Operating in Lebanon, West Africa, Panama and Colombia, Joumaa and his organization launder as much as $200 million per month through various channels, including bulk cash smuggling operations and Lebanese exchange houses, the Treasury said in the statement. Investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration found that Joumaa’s network coordinated the transportation, distribution, and sale of multi-ton shipments of cocaine from South America.

“Ayman Joumaa runs a complex money laundering scheme moving hundreds of millions of dollars of illicitly derived proceeds through businesses operated by him and his associates,” said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin in the statement. “By exposing this international drug trafficking and money laundering organization, today’s action will disrupt this network and obstruct their access to the international financial system.”

Along with Joumaa, three money houses, the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company, the Ellissa Exchange Company, and New Line Exchange Trust Co. all received sanctions for facilitating his activities by taking him on as a customer. Lebanon-based company Phenicia Shipping Offshore SARL, Panama-based companies Goldi Electronics S.A. and Zona Libre International Market S.A., and Colombia-based companies Almacen Junior, Almacen Junior No. 2 and Commercial Planeta were sanctioned for being owned or controlled by members of the Ayman Joumaa organization.