Immigrant Jailed for Sending Money to Iraq

An Iraqi immigrant was sentenced to four months in prison for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business that illegally wired nearly $2 million to Iraq.

Kareem Abdalhassin Albasam, 42, who became a U.S. citizen in 1999, insisted that the money was intended to go to relatives of immigrants for housing, medical care and other basic needs. Federal law prohibits sending money to Iraq.

Investigators found no evidence the money was used to finance terrorism, but U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said Albasam didn’t know for certain how the money was spent in Iraq or how it was earned in the U.S.