Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017

This bill (S. 1595) amends the Hizballah* International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 to impose specified sanctions on: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist in or provide support for fund raising or recruitment activities for Hizballah; (2) agencies of foreign governments that provide Hizballah with financial support, arms, or other assistance; and (3) Hizballah by reason of its narcotics trafficking and significant transnational criminal activities.

The bill prescribes reporting requirements or reporting modifications with respect to: (1) foreign persons that knowingly assist or provide significant financial, material, or technological support for foreign persons assisting Hizballah; (2) financial institutions that are owned or organized under the laws of state sponsors of terrorism; (3) Hizballah’s racketeering activities; (4) combating illicit tobacco trafficking networks used by Hizballah and other foreign terrorist organizations to finance their operations; (5) the estimated net worth of senior Hizballah officials and how their funds were acquired and used; and (6) revenue from Hizbollah’s global logistics networks and legal measures available to target such networks.

The legislation passed the House and Senate and differences between the two bills has yet to be resolved.

*Alternative spelling used in JVL – Hezbollah