FBI busts $1.5M Hamas-run crypto financing scheme used to fund terrorism
The US Department of Justice on Thursday said it has dismantled a massive Hamas-run crypto financing scheme that was used to launder $1.5 million over the past six months.
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The US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday said it has dismantled a massive Hamas-run crypto financing scheme that was used to launder $1.5 million over the past six months.
As part of the bust, the DoJ said it had seized over $200,000 donated by Hamas supporters that was allegedly being held by the terror group across more than a dozen cryptocurrency wallets and personal accounts for future use.
The court-authorized seizure was traced from fundraising addresses purportedly controlled by Hamas, which were used to launder more than $1.5 million in virtual currency since October 2024, according to the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and Cyber Division investigating the case.
“These seizures show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas, wherever it is found, and in whatever form of currency,” said US Attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin Jr.
Justice Department Disrupts Hamas Terrorist Financing Scheme Through Seizure of Cryptocurrency
undefined National Security Division, U.S. Dept of Justice (@DOJNatSec) March 27, 2025
🔗: https://t.co/oEG6Ps4Lbz pic.twitter.com/wB5HVAJd8A
How it worked
Supporters worldwide were encouraged to make donations to Hamas via a group chat, set up on an encrypted communications platform (unnamed), claiming to be associated with the terrorist organization.
The chat would provide its donors with a changing set of at least 17 cryptocurrency addresses. These accounts were registered in the names of Palestinian individuals living in Turkey and elsewhere.
The filing said that once the funds were sent to the operational wallet, they would be laundered through a series of virtual currency exchanges and transactions by suspected financiers and over-the-counter brokers.
In total, $201,400 in cryptocurrency assets was seized by the feds, including $89,900 from the wallets themselves and another $111,500 from three personal crypto accounts registered in the names of Palestinian individuals living in Turkey and elsewhere.
The FBI found that more than a million dollars was raised and laundered using the laundering system and the virtual currency accounts described in the affidavit.
Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, or Hamas, was responsible for the October 7th, 2023 terror attack in Israel, resulting in the murder of more than 1200 Israelis and igniting the ongoing war in Gaza.
Of the 250 civilian hostages taken by the terror group, about 59 still remain in captivity – including five Americans, according to the American Jewish Committee.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry has reported more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the US Congress website states.
“Countering terrorism remains the FBI’s number one priority. By successfully disrupting access to funds, we weaken their ability to function,” said Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office.
“We will continue to do everything in our power to protect the American people and pursue justice by depriving terrorist organizations of the resources they need to continue their illicit activity,” he said.