Americas — 2026-06-18

DOJ Charges San Diego Man With Funneling Hundreds of Thousands Through Sham Charities to Hamas

BLUFSabassi will likely face conviction or a plea within two years of arrest, but the unindicted co-conspirators and Gaza Now crypto layer signal a broader network disruption still unfolding.

Federal authorities arrested Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego on June 16, unsealing a five-count complaint charging him with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, sanctions evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statements 12. DOJ filings allege Sabassi raised approximately $600,000 between December 2023 and February 2024 via his purported charity Ikram – The Arab Charity Foundation Inc. and affiliated crowdfunding campaigns, claiming the funds were for humanitarian aid in Gaza 123. Prosecutors allege he instead sent approximately $116,000 to a Hamas member, attempted to convert approximately $382,000 into cryptocurrency for transfer to Hamas through Gaza Now, and diverted a portion for personal use 12. The complaint also alleges Sabassi created and posted an hour-long October 7 propaganda video to at least two social media accounts 12.

Analysis
Private communications, cryptocurrency records, and coordination with OFAC-designated co-conspirators narrow prosecutorial exposure considerably, and Sabassi will likely be convicted on at least one count or enter a guilty plea within two years. The SDNY venue despite a San Diego arrest signals financial flows touched New York intermediaries, framing this as a network disruption rather than a terminus. Analytic confidence is low: sourcing rests on a single DOJ complaint with no independent investigative reporting to corroborate or stress-test the evidentiary picture. The defense's strongest play is that cryptocurrency transfers to Gaza Now preceded its March 2024 OFAC designation, potentially defeating the sanctions-evasion count on temporal grounds. A conviction would establish prosecutorial precedent for post-October 7 humanitarian-cover fundraising flows, giving DOJ a template for pursuing unindicted co-conspirators and structurally similar networks.
4 sources
  1. San Diego Resident Charged with Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Hamas - Department of Justice
  2. San Diego Resident Charged With Conspiring To Provide Material Support To Hamas - U.S. Department of Justice (USAO-SDNY)
  3. San Diego man charged for laundering charity money to Hamas - The Jerusalem Post
  4. San Diego man accused of raising money for Hamas through fake charity - 10News San Diego

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