Published Jun 21, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT
The DOJ announced a five-count complaint against the San Diego resident, with potentially 20 years in prison for serious charges.
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Published Jun 21, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT
The Department of Justice has charged a California man with five counts, alleging that the individual conspired with the terrorist group HAMAS and provided the group hundreds of thousands of dollars. The complaint unsealed on Wednesday charges Reda Mazen Rida Sabassi, 38, of San Diego, with terrorism, sanctions-evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and false statement charges in connection with his efforts to divert funds raised through purported charitable campaigns to Hamas and for personal use. He was arrested in San Diego on Tuesday and presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Chu in the Southern District of California, according to the DOJ. Prosecutors tied Sabassi's alleged crimes to the foreign terrorist organization Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya, commonly known as Hamas, and its actions on Oct. 7, 2023, that resulted in more than 1,200 lives lost including murders of children and the elderly, 251 hostages taken in Gaza, and countless cases of rape across 20 communities, the Nova music festival, and a military installation. “As alleged in the complaint, the defendant exploited the barbaric acts of terror perpetrated on Oct. 7, 2023, to attract donors to his fraudulent ‘humanitarian’ causes,” said John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, in a statement. “He allegedly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars through this scheme, which he then funneled to Hamas to help finance that group’s terror and violence and to line his own pockets. As demonstrated by today’s charges, NSD will investigate and prosecute those who fund terrorism.”
