U.S. Treasury Dept. Claims Turkish Jewelry Company Helped ISIS

(IDEX Online News) - The U.S. Department of the Treasury has released a statement in which it singles out the Al-Hebo Jewelry Company (al-Hebo) for its support of ISIS.

The statement claims the Turkish-based al-Hebo has "materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to ISIS."

The company also operates under the names Al-Habu Jewelry, Al-Habu Jewelry and Money Exchange and Al-Habu Money Exchange.

According to the Treasury Department, in late 2017, the company's Gaziantep location was involved in an ISIS scheme to convert gold into cash to make transferring funds from Turkey to ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria more efficient.

ISIS members used al-Hebo's Raqqah location as a cash transfer business.

The statement also singles out al-Hebo's owner who it says procured precious metals to enable ISIS to produce its own coinage.

The announcement came after the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) used newly enhanced counter-terrorism sanctions authorities, which became effective September 10.

Under the new rules, any U.S. property or interests owned by any of the entities on its terrorism list must be blocked and reported to OFAC. In addition, U.S. citizens or people within the U.S. may not deal with the individuals or entities named by OFAC.