Federal Prosecutors Charge Gaza Man in $1.7 Million Hamas Fundraising Scheme

The indictment tests the legal boundaries of humanitarian aid solicitation and exposes gaps in domestic oversight of foreign terrorist financing networks.

Federal prosecutors have charged a 45-year-old Gaza man with operating a fundraising campaign that raised $1.7 million for Hamas, including contributions from donors inside the United States, according to an indictment described by CBS News.

The defendant, identified as Saleem Alzaq, is alleged by prosecutors to be a longtime Hamas member who helped manage the campaign by presenting it to donors as a humanitarian aid effort for civilians in Gaza. The indictment does not specify how many U.S.-based donors contributed or what share of the $1.7 million originated domestically. Those figures, if made public, would appear in court filings as the case proceeds.

Hamas has been designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department since 1997, under 8 U.S.C. Section 1189. That designation makes it a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. Section 2339B to knowingly provide material support or resources to the organization, including funds. Prosecutors must establish that contributors knew, or reasonably should have known, the destination of their donations.

The case is notable in part because it involves a foreign national charging scenario in which the alleged operator of the scheme is located outside the United States, which raises jurisdictional questions that courts will have to resolve. Federal authorities have pursued similar extraterritorial jurisdiction arguments in prior terrorism financing cases under the theory that U.S. Donors and U.S. Financial infrastructure were used in the scheme.

Federal terrorism financing prosecutions involving humanitarian aid claims have a documented history. In 2004, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was shut down by the Treasury Department and later prosecuted on charges that it funneled money to Hamas under the cover of charitable giving. That case resulted in convictions in 2008 after a retrial in the Northern District of Texas, according to Department of Justice records.

The Alzaq indictment follows a period of heightened federal scrutiny of Gaza-related fundraising campaigns operating through digital platforms and social media. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued multiple advisories since October 2023 warning U.S. Persons that donations intended for Gaza can be intercepted or redirected by Hamas, and that intent alone does not provide legal protection.

As of the date of this report, the specific platforms or financial channels used in the alleged Alzaq scheme have not been publicly identified in court documents. That information would typically appear in a bill of particulars or in evidence presented during pretrial proceedings.

The indictment does not name any U.S.-based individuals as co-defendants, though prosecutors note that U.S. Donors were part of the fundraising network. Whether any domestic participants face separate charges is unknown. A grand jury transcript, if unsealed, would provide the most direct record of what evidence prosecutors presented on that question.

Alzaq's legal representation, if any has been retained or appointed, was not identified in the CBS News report. Court docket records for this case, which would name defense counsel and list upcoming hearings, are accessible through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system, known as PACER.

The $1.7 million total cited by prosecutors does not specify the time period over which the funds were raised. That time frame would be material to determining whether the scheme operated before, during, or after the October 2023 escalation in Gaza, which would carry implications for sentencing and for tracing specific donor transactions.

What remains unknown at this stage includes the names of any U.S. Donors under investigation, the financial institutions through which transfers were processed, and whether any of those institutions filed Suspicious Activity Reports with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN records are not public, but congressional oversight committees have authority to request them.