Canadian officials have accused a Toronto-area used automobile dealer of laundering money for the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.
Fahed Sowane, a 57-year-old Lebanese citizen who got here to Canada on a piece permit in 2016, has denied the allegations.
But in heavily-redacted court records released to Global News, the officials called the Mississauga, Ont., resident a “danger to the safety of Canada.”
A veteran auto trader, Sowane has exported Audi, BMW and other vehicles to the Hezbollah-controlled port of Beirut, the highly-classified documents allege.
Immigration officials concluded the shipments amounted to “money laundering to learn Hezbollah,” based on the files.
Because of this, the officials found Sowane inadmissible to Canada, meaning he isn’t allowed to stay within the country.
The Federal Court upheld the choice last week.
A former Canadian intelligence analyst who makes a speciality of terror finance said high-end auto exports were a “very well-known Hezbollah financing technique.”
To maneuver money across borders, Hezbollah uses it to purchase vehicles, that are sent to Lebanon and resold, said Jessica Davis, president of Insight Threat Intelligence.
“What this implies is that cash is moving from Canada to Lebanon but without ever touching the banking system,” the previous Canadian Security Intelligence Service official said.
“And this is vital because banks are literally pretty much equipped to detect money laundering and terrorist financing. And so this can be a way that criminals circumvent all of those safeguards that we put into the economic system.”
Photo of Fahed Sowane from his immigration file.
Federal Court
The Canada Border Services Agency didn’t reply to questions on the matter. Sowane’s lawyer said his client was upset by the court’s ruling.
In emails to Global News, Dan Miller said the immigration officials on the case “could offer no evidence of any conduct of concern.”
He disputed the federal government’s claim that Sowane had exported vehicles to Beirut for lower than he paid for them — a flag for money laundering.
Sowane’s “frustration is made all the more severe since the Canadian government allows tons of of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps members to reside freely in Canada, a bunch which he strongly opposes,” Miller added.
“Similarly, each weekend pro-Hamas supporters gather freely on the intersection of Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave. in Toronto to intimidate the local Jewish community, and the federal government does nothing to stop this.”
“As an alternative, the federal government goes after small-time individuals on flimsy suspicions to pretend to be doing something, while at the identical time it avoids taking any motion which could offend its voter base.”
Hezbollah is a “radical Shia group” dedicated to turning Lebanon into an Islamist republic like Iran, based on Public Safety Canada.
Armed, trained and financed by Tehran, it is an element of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” that also includes Gaza-based Hamas and Yemen’s Houthis.
Although bankrolled by Iran, Hezbollah also relies on drug trafficking and other crimes for revenue, and launders the proceeds, often through the worldwide auto trade.
Iran has encouraged its axis groups to develop alternative sources of funding, said Davis, writer of Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism within the twenty first Century.
That features taxation, extortion, investments and criminal networks, she said.
“Those are the sorts of things that provide longevity and financial lifelines to terrorist groups, even when their terrorist patrons cut them off.”
The Beirut port is controlled by Hezbollah, based on Canadian officials, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar).
In a 2022 terrorist financing alert, the Financial Transactions and Reports Evaluation Centre of Canada warned about Hezbollah’s activities.
The bulletin said that, after ISIS, Hezbollah was the international terrorist group most ceaselessly spotted moving money across borders.
“A big portion of funds suspected of funding Hezbollah were sent to Lebanon,” FINTRAC wrote within the operation alert for financial institutions.
“Funds suspected of funding Hezbollah were ceaselessly sent or received by individual/entities referencing sale of cars or listed within the automotive industry.”
A automobile dealer for greater than three a long time, Sowane launched Black Swan Trading Inc. in Ontario in 2015, based on documents filed in Federal Court.
He also worked at M&J Canada Inc., where his duties included exporting used cars and parts to overseas markets, based on the records.
The Mississauga used vehicle dealership, which described Sowane in a letter as a full-time worker, didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Three years after Sowane arrived in Canada on a piece permit, Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development nominated him to grow to be a landed immigrant.
The province nominates prospective immigrants who “have the abilities and experience the Ontario economy needs,” based on the federal government website.
The ministry answerable for this system didn’t reply to questions.
A CSIS security screening report on Fahed Sowane has been heavily redacted.
Federal Court
While federal immigration officials were processing Sowane’s everlasting residence application, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service stepped in.
After CSIS sent a security screening transient to the CBSA in February 2024, Sowane was rejected “for being a danger to the safety of Canada.”
Although immigration officials asked Sowane for records on his auto exports, they said he didn’t provide them, prompting officials to allege he “withheld information.”
Sowane argued he didn’t share the identical religious beliefs as Hezbollah, however the CBSA said that “ideology is probably not an element in terms of personal economic profit.”
His lawyer told immigration officers his client had “never had anything to do with Hezbollah and that his business activities have never had anything to do with Hezbollah.”
“The Sunnis in Lebanon hate Hezbollah and Mr. Sowane is not any different. He blames Hezbollah for turning Lebanon right into a failed state and says that he wants nothing to do with Hezbollah,” the lawyer wrote in an April 2024 email.
Sowane appealed the CBSA’s decision but lost.
In a decision handed down on Jan. 21, the Federal Court said the immigration department had come to its decision in a “procedurally fair and reasonable manner.”
Davis called it “a rare case of Hezbollah enforcement disruption in Canada,” which used the immigration screening system versus the criminal courts.
“I feel it’s really necessary that Canadians understand that this sort of stuff is occurring on this country even after we don’t see law enforcement motion,” she said.
“There are other ways in which the Canadian government goes about disrupting finance networks. Immigration is a extremely, actually quite necessary, piece of that.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca