Customs Agents Raid Money-Transfer Firm
The Customs Service raided the office of a Seattle-area money-transfer company that the government believes wired millions of dollars to Iraq in violation of a decade-old U.S. embargo.
Customs agents seized records from Al-Shafei Family Connect, a money-wiring business that allows Iraqi immigrants in the United States to send money to relatives back home, the agency said. The company is owned and operated by Hussain Al-Shafei, an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen. It is in Mountlake Terrace, north of Seattle.
The agency said the company wired $14.6 million in 344 transfers to nations around the globe in 1999 and 2000. Officials would not say how much went to Iraq but estimated that $6.9 million of it was sent to Jordan.
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