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U.S. Sues Businesses It Says Helped Hizbullah
(New York Times) Jo Becker - The federal government on Thursday escalated its campaign to stanch the flow of what it says is dirty money to the Shiite militant group Hizbullah. Prosecutors filed a civil suit aimed at financially punishing American and Lebanese businesses that the government charges were behind a Hizbullah-controlled global network that laundered huge sums in South American cocaine proceeds. The court action, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks nearly half a billion dollars in penalties from three Lebanese financial organizations - the now-defunct Lebanese Canadian Bank and two Beirut-based money exchange houses - and 30 auto dealers in the U.S.