When developers broke ground on a horse farm across a narrow, sun-dappled street from Kezban’s house about seven years ago, she had just got engaged.
Two years passed and Kezban got married, became pregnant and gave birth, shortly before the shiny complex was unveiled. New neighbours began moving into the gated community in Bursa, Turkey’s fourth-largest city.
But the US government believes this compound, Anda Park Balat 2, to be a high-value asset in a secret global investment portfolio that could be worth as much as $1 billion run by Hamas, potentially making it one of the richest terrorist groups in the world.
On Friday, the US Treasury announced its third round of sanctions since 2022 targeting Trend GYO, the Turkey-based developer of Anda Park Balat 2 and several other projects, for being part of Hamas’s international financing network.
Hamas has built a global operation to funnel funds to support its activities – using shell companies, physically moving cash, transferring via cryptocurrencies, syphoning support from charities, and receiving infusions from friendly nations such as Iran, which supports several militant groups in countries that border Israel.
H/T to AFSI member Glenn Richter for bringing this article to our attention
Source:
Inside the gleaming developments that made Hamas a $1bn terror group, by Sophia Yan/The Telegraph