the US trade embargo with Iran and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business known as a hawala.
Mahdi Socara, 38, an Iranian citizen and resident of Nutley, New Jersey, was charged with transferring about $500,000 a year on behalf of his customers. He also is accused of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITRs).
Hawalas are part of an underground banking system in which money doesn’t physically cross borders. Customers in one country transfer funds to an operator, or hawaladar, and corresponding funds are disbursed in another country by a second hawaladar, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
Socara was arrested July 20 on a deportation order after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents got a tip that he was involved in money laundering, according to his arrest complaint. He told ICE agents he is a “well-known hawaladar” who worked with a relative in Iran, according to the complaint.
“He boasted that he offered the best service in New York City,” according to the ICE complaint dated Sept. 10.
Socara was ordered detained without bail. He faces as much as 20 years in prison on the IEEPA count and five years on the unlicensed money transmitting count.
During a search of Socara’s apartment in Nutley, agents found 850 bank deposit and withdrawal slips showing he deposited $2 million for 200 separate accounts between June 2005 and July 2010, according to the ICE complaint.
“Mahdi Socara’s possession of such voluminous amounts of bank records indicates that he is a hawaladar depositing money into beneficiary customer’s United States bank accounts,” according to the complaint.
