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Sunday, October 4, 2026

The File

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Justice Department · Sunday, October 4, 2026

Justice Department and Treasury announce a Hamas financing case

The File desk · Oct 4, 2026, 11:03 AM UTC

Status

Confirmed as charges, arrests, and sanctions (Justice Department and Treasury, Oct. 2, 2026). The conduct is alleged. Defendants are presumed innocent.

  • Confirmed

    On Oct. 2 the Justice Department unsealed charges and announced arrests, and Treasury blocked property of named people and two French groups under

    .

  • Confirmed

    The fundraising allegations are what the indictment, complaints, and sanctions release say. They are not findings of guilt.

On Friday the Justice Department said it had unsealed charges over money allegedly raised for Hamas, including from donors in the United States, and that three men were arrested here. French police arrested three more people. The same day Treasury blocked the U.S.-touching property of a Gaza-based man, two people in France, and two groups they used to raise money. The charges are allegations. The people charged are presumed innocent.

The Justice Department’s announcement is dated Oct. 2, 2026. It says an indictment charging Saleem Alzaq was unsealed, and that Omar Adhami, Abdel Adhami, and Raed Yousef were arrested. In France, the General Directorate for Internal Security arrested Faouzi Barika, Amel Oualid, and Nordine Barika.

The department spells the central name Saleem Alzaq, 45, of Gaza. It describes him as a Hamas member and a battalion deputy in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The release does not say he was arrested.

Prosecutors say that since about January 2020 he collected donations, including from the United States, through campaigns presented as aid for people in Gaza, and that the money went to Hamas. The Southern District of New York narrative says he collected more than $1.7 million. A New York police commissioner, in the same announcement, said the case exposed more than $2 million. Those are both in the Justice Department release. They are not the same number.

Abdel Adhami, 35, and Omar Adhami, 33, both of Covington, Louisiana, are accused of sending about $94,000 and about $11,000. Raed Yousef, 56, of Lutz, Florida, is accused of providing almost $50,000. The Adhami charges are complaints in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Yousef is charged in an indictment in the Middle District of Florida. Alzaq’s indictment is in the Southern District of New York.

Alzaq is charged with conspiring to provide

, conspiring to violate the , conspiring to launder money, and conspiring to defraud the United States. The department says the first three carry a maximum of 20 years and the fraud conspiracy five years. The Adhami brothers and Yousef face their own material-support and money-laundering counts, also with stated maximums of 20 years on those counts. Yousef is also charged with passport fraud, maximum five years.

An indictment or a complaint is an allegation. The department says all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control posted its own release the same day, sb0647. It uses the spelling Saleem Abdallah Saleem al-Zaq. It designated him, Faouzi Barika, Amel Oualid, Association Baraka, and Ensemble C Mieux. The release does not name Nordine Barika.

Treasury says Barika, Oualid, and al-Zaq collected more than $2 million for Hamas from 2020 to 2026, and that $1.5 million of that came after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. It says the designations were issued under

. Property of the designated people and groups that is in the United States, or in the hands of Americans, is blocked.

The Treasury release also says Hamas was designated under that order on Oct. 31, 2001, and is a foreign terrorist organization under

. This is a criminal case and a sanctions list. It is not the September cryptocurrency seizure.

What is still unknown or disputed

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Coordinated arrests and charges dismantle a Hamas terror-finance network raising funds from the United States

    U.S. Department of Justice · October 2, 2026

    Oct. 2, 2026. Unsealed indictment charging Saleem Alzaq. Arrests of Omar Adhami, Abdel Adhami, and Raed Yousef. French arrests of Faouzi Barika, Amel Oualid, and Nordine Barika. Alzaq, 45, of Gaza, described as a battalion deputy in the Al-Qassam Brigades. More than $1.7 million alleged since about January 2020. Abdel Adhami about $94,000; Omar Adhami about $11,000; Yousef almost $50,000. Material-support and related maximums of 20 years. “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”

    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/coordinated-arrests-and-charges-dismantle-hamas-terror-finance-network-raising-funds-united

  2. Source 2

    Treasury dismantles major Hamas financing network

    U.S. Department of the Treasury · October 2, 2026

    Press release sb0647, Oct. 2, 2026. OFAC designated Saleem Abdallah Saleem al-Zaq, Faouzi Barika, Amel Oualid, Association Baraka, and Ensemble C Mieux pursuant to , as amended by . More than $2 million from 2020–2026, of which $1.5 million after Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas designated under on Oct. 31, 2001, and as a foreign terrorist organization under . U.S.-touching property is blocked.

    https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0647