Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The United States has designated three individuals and six businesses operating across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa for facilitating financial transactions on behalf of the Islamic State, in a sweeping move that exposes a global network of money movers spanning from France and Syria to Turkey and Nigeria. The action, announced on Monday, June 22, 2026, by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), marks one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive strikes against the financial lifelines that sustain the terrorist group’s regional affiliates and global operations.
The designations target three individuals – a French national, a Syria-based operator, and a Nigerian financial facilitator – along with six entities including a cryptocurrency exchange in Syria, two money service businesses in Turkey, and three bureau de change firms in Nigeria. According to the Treasury Department, the network has enabled ISIS to move money across borders, funding attacks and supporting affiliates including ISIS-West Africa. “ISIS continues to seek new methods and tools to finance terrorist attacks,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement. “The United States will leverage every tool at its disposal to crush ISIS’s remaining capabilities and protect American lives.”
The Treasury’s action comes amid a sustained campaign against the group’s financial infrastructure, which has become increasingly decentralised as counterterrorism pressure has forced the terrorist organisation to rely on a web of intermediaries and money service businesses to move funds across continents. A French national, Abderrahmane Miloud, also known as Ghazi Ibrahim, was designated for conducting transactions with known ISIS affiliates based in Syria and for providing instructional and manufacturing information on explosives to ISIS supporters. The Treasury also identified two TRON blockchain addresses linked to Miloud, marking a rare OFAC action that specifies individual wallet identifiers, underscoring the growing role of cryptocurrency in terrorist financing.
The Syria-based operator, Abdelhakim Boukich, also known as Abu Sulayman Alholandi and Muhammad Babili, a former Dutch national, was designated for establishing and directing Bitcoin Xchange, a money service business operating from Syria. According to Treasury, Boukich and Bitcoin Xchange transferred money on behalf of ISIS associates from multiple countries, including Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States. Bitcoin Xchange has been tracked by blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs since early 2022, with an estimated total volume of approximately $10 million and hundreds of transactions linked to ISIS fundraising campaigns. The exchange has served as a core off-ramp for cryptocurrency donations that flow through Telegram-based campaigns and are converted to cash for delivery into displacement camps in northeast Syria, where ISIS members and their families are held.
In West Africa, the Treasury designated Muhammad Mukhtar Adamu, a Nigerian national residing in the Agege area of Lagos, for his role as a financial facilitator for ISIS-West Africa. Adamu is accused of using his currency exchange businesses to channel funds for the terrorist affiliate. Three Nigerian companies linked to Adamu were also designated: General Currency Bureau De Change Limited, incorporated in Lagos on January 9, 2019; Manhattan Bureau De Change, located on Murtala Mohammed Way in Kano, incorporated on January 26, 2021; and Nine To Nine Exchange Bureau De Change, situated at the FAAN Complex, Airport Road, Lagos, incorporated on August 22, 2017. The designations freeze any assets the individuals or entities may hold in the United States and prohibit American citizens and companies from doing business with them.
The action extends beyond West Africa. Two Turkey‑based money transfer and trading firms – Alkaram Danismanlik Gayrimenkul Ic ve Dis Genel Ticaret Limited Sirketi and Spider Gayrimenkul ve Genel Ticaret Limited Sirketi – were also designated. Both are owned and controlled by Mohamad Alhmidan, previously designated by OFAC for facilitating logistical and financial support for ISIS and helping foreign terrorist fighters. Spider originated as a hawala operating in Syria, transferring money from ISIS‑controlled territory to other regions, while Alkaram operates as a front for Spider.
The designations come just over a month after a joint US‑Nigeria operation on May 16, 2026, which resulted in the killing of Abu‑Bilal al‑Minuki, identified as the number two official in ISIS and the head of the group’s General Directorate of Provinces. The State Department reaffirmed its strong partnership with Nigeria in the fight against terrorism. “We will continue to use every diplomatic and legal tool available to hold ISIS and its supporters accountable – wherever they operate and however they move money,” the State Department said in a statement.
For Nigeria, the designation of a Lagos‑based financial facilitator and three money exchange businesses sends a clear signal: the United States is prepared to target not just the fighters on the battlefield, but the accountants, money changers and crypto traders who keep the terror machine running. As Treasury Secretary Bessent put it, the administration will “relentlessly pursue ISIS’s finances and disrupt their ability to harm Americans.” The names are now public, the assets are frozen, and the message is unmistakable.
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