American University National Security Law Brief Volume 6 Issue 2 Article 4 2016 "Black" Hawala: Confronting ISIL on the Financial Front Kelsey Mowatt-Larssen American University Washington College of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/nslb Part of the International Law Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, and the National Security Law Commons Recommended Citation Mowatt-Larssen, Kelsey ""Black" Hawala: Confronting ISIL on the Financial Front," American University National Security Law Brief, Vol. 6, No. 2 (2016). Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/nslb/vol6/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in American University National Security Law Brief by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Vol. 6, No. 2 "BLACK' HAWALA 59 "BLACK" HAWALA: CONFRONTING ISIL ON THE FINANCIAL FRONT KELSEY MowATT-LARSSEN* l. INTRODUCTION Hawala is an alternative remittance system 1 developed in the Middle East, allowing for the transfer of money outside of formal financial institutions. 2 Hawaladars, or hawala dealers, operate informally to organize the movement of cash, or its value equivalent, between customers.3 Because there is typically no record of the transaction, hawala is associated with money-laundering and terrorist financing. 4 The Islamic State oflraq and the Levant ("ISIL"), otherwise known as The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ("ISIS"), ad-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-'Iraq wa-sh-Sham, Daesh, or Dawla al Islamiya (hereinafter ISIL) is the most financially sophisticated terrorist organization in operation today.