Turkey-Based Global Director of Sham Charity Arrested and Charged with Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Hamas
Friday, July 31, 2026 - A three-count complaint was unsealed today charging Mohammad Yousef Hasna, also known as “Orhan Korkmaz” and “Abu al-Baraa,” 45, of Istanbul, Turkey, with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), and related terrorism financing charges. As alleged, Hasna used his senior role at a purported global humanitarian organization to coordinate directly with Hamas’s senior leadership regarding the delivery of funds and supplies to Gaza, and the distribution of those funds and supplies at Hamas leadership’s instructions. Hasna was arrested in the United Kingdom today.
“The money that flows from sham charities like the one described in the complaint fuels Hamas’s terrorist activities, including the atrocities the group committed on October 7,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “Hamas cannot function without injections of money through its illicit financial networks. The National Security Division will continue to work tirelessly to disrupt Hamas’s operations, including through the prosecutions such as this.”
“Mohammad Hasna is alleged to have abused his position as the global director of a purported humanitarian organization to raise money and provide funds and supplies to Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization responsible for the murders of dozens of Americans and over a thousand other innocent victims, including as part of the heinous atrocities of October 7,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York. “Hasna worked closely with Hamas’s senior leadership to deliver supplies, food, funding, and other materials to terrorists under the guise of humanitarian aid. Our arrest of Mohammad Hasna demonstrates our commitment to dismantling Hamas’s illicit global financing networks and the sham charities that support terrorist organizations and their violent aims using the lie of philanthropy.”
“The accused allegedly used a purported humanitarian aid organization to raise funds and provide financing and supplies to Hamas, a ruthless international terrorist organization,” said Assistant Director Jarod Brown of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “According to the criminal complaint, the defendant coordinated his actions closely with a senior leader of Hamas and knew the resources were going to that group rather than to needy non-combatants. The FBI is committed to cutting off funding and other assistance to terrorist organizations and will continue to work closely with our U.S. government and international partners to present a united front against global terrorism.”
According to the allegations contained in the complaint, Hasna is the global director of a purported international charity registered in the United Kingdom (the “Sham Charity”). In that role, Hasna allegedly provided financing and commodities to Hamas, including by coordinating extensively with individuals at the highest levels of Hamas. As alleged, Hasna worked closely with senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad (Hamad), a member of Hamas’s governing body known as the Politburo and the Minster for the Ministry of Social Development in Gaza (MoSD), a putative governmental agency that is controlled by Hamas.
Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya, commonly known as Hamas, is a terrorist organization that was founded in 1987, and has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States since 1997. From its inception, Hamas’s stated purpose has been to create an Islamic Palestinian state throughout Israel by eliminating the State of Israel through violent holy war, or jihad. Hamas also promotes attacks against the United States and its citizens, and over more than two decades, Hamas has murdered and injured dozens of Americans as part of its campaign of violence and terror. On October 7, 2023, Hamas committed its most violent, large-scale terrorist attack to date (the “October 7 Hamas Massacres”) when Hamas sent more than 2,000-armed fighters into farms and towns in southern Israel, where they carried out the massacres of over a thousand people and the kidnappings of 251 hostages.
Following the October 7 Hamas Massacres, in its disclosures to UK authorities, the Sham Charity reported that its total gross income nearly doubled from approximately $41.8 million USD in fiscal year 2023, to approximately $81.56 million USD in fiscal year 2024. The Sham Charity represented that it spent approximately $91 million on charitable activities in the fiscal year ending July 31, 2025.
Since at least 2023, Hasna and Hamad coordinated the delivery of purported humanitarian aid organized by or allocated to the Sham Charity into Gaza for Hamas’s benefit, repeatedly coordinating the delivery of supplies, food, and other items by Hasna (under the guise of humanitarian aid from the Sham Charity) directly into Hamad’s and Hamas’s hands. In coordination with Hamad and at Hamad’s direction, Hasna allegedly arranged (1) deliveries of cash to Hamad; (2) the procurement of supplies for import to Gaza; (3) transportation of supplies into Gaza by truck from Egypt and elsewhere; (4) deliveries to warehouses controlled by the Sham Charity or by MoSD, according to Hamad’s instructions; and (5) distribution of those supplies to lists of recipients identified by Hamad. As part of this scheme, Hasna and Hamad concealed where the supplies were being delivered or stored, including by misrepresenting that supplies were being delivered to MoSD when in fact they were being delivered to warehouses controlled by Hasna; having supplies delivered initially to MoSD but then redistributed to the actual receiving parties; and taking pictures and videos of the supplies that omitted any signage inside the warehouses that would reveal their location or control.
Hasna is charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hamas, conspiring to finance terrorism, and financing terrorism, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
A federal district judge will determine their sentences after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division thanks the U.K. authorities and the Israeli Security Agency for their assistance with this investigation. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the United Kingdom’s law enforcement authorities provided significant assistance.
This case is being handled by the Southern District of New York’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah L. Kushner, Michael D. Lockard, and Juliana N. Murray are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Alicia Cook of the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Source: Justice.gov
