Date: April 23, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Mohanad Al-Zubaidi and Shaker Saleh Mohammed Hauter were both sentenced to three years in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business that was responsible for illicitly moving more than $65 million between the United States and countries in the Middle East, including Yemen, Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. Al-Zubaidi and Hauter previously pled guilty on January 15, 2025, before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, who imposed yesterday’s sentence.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said: “Mohanad Al-Zubaidi and Shaker Saleh Mohammed Hauter ran an underground financial network that illegally transferred tens of millions of dollars between the United States and the Middle East. The sentences imposed yesterday send a clear message that those who operate these unlawful financing networks will be held accountable.”
According to the Indictment, plea agreements, and statements made in court:
Between in or about 2018 through at least in or about 2022, Al-Zubaidi and Hauter operated an unlicensed money transfer business that was responsible for illicitly moving more than $65 million between the U.S. and countries in the Middle East. Al-Zubaidi and Hauter facilitated hundreds of illicit money transfers, with each transfer ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. For the illicit transactions they completed, Al-Zubaidi and Hauter typically earned a commission of between one and six percent of the total amount transferred. To facilitate these illicit transfers, Al-Zubaidi and Hauter worked with other members of an international network of money brokers to transfer money through an informal money transmitting system known as “hawala,” which is frequently used by money launderers and other criminals to transfer criminal proceeds abroad.
In addition to the prison terms, Al-Zubaidi of Piscataway, New Jersey, and Hauter of the Bronx, New York, were both sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to pay forfeiture of $385,000 and $430,000, respectively.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Clayton also recognized the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew J. King and Amanda C. Weingarten are in charge of the prosecution.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.