Altaf Khanani (; born 2 May 1961) is a Pakistani money launderer who was involved in moving money for terrorist groups and criminal gang groups. After serving three years in prison he was released in July 2020.

Early life and family

He was born in 1961 to a Memon family who were originally from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India before migrating to Pakistan after independence. His father Abdul Sattar Khanani was a street dealer and businessman. He was the twin brother of Javed Khanani who was involved in Khanani and Kalia International fraud. His brother allegedly committed suicide in 2016.

Money laundering

Khanani's money laundering organisation was involved in the illicit international movement of money between, among others, Pakistan, the

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, and

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. Among the methods used was the traditional

Hawala Hawala or hewala ( , meaning ''transfer'' or sometimes ''trust''), originating in India as havala (), also known as in Persian, and or in Somali, is a popular and informal value transfer system based on the performance and honour of a hug ...

system. Among others, the organization moved money for drug cartels, biker gangs,

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

and the armed terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks of

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Arrest

Khanani was arrested in September 2016 in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

by the

US Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domest ...

, and transported to jail in the United States. He was indicted in the

US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the Southern District of Florida on fourteen counts of money laundering in June 2015. In a plea bargain, Khanani pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit laundering. His sentence included 68 months in prison, a $250,000 fine, blacklisting by the United States along with his son Obaid Khanani and nephew Hozaifa Khanani, and his money laundering network has been designated as a Transnational Criminal Organization under the SDN by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

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. Its addresses included Australia, Canada, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States. Khanani was released from prison on July 13, 2020.(B.O.P. Register Number: 06369-104)
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References

Living people 1961 births Pakistani fraudsters Pakistani people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Florida Pakistani people convicted of money laundering Pakistani people of Gujarati descent Memon people People convicted of money laundering Organised crime in Australia Pakistani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Drug dealers People from Karachi Pakistani twins 1993 Bombay bombings Participants in the 2008 Mumbai attacks Muhajir people {{Pakistan-bio-stub Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List

Early life and family

Money laundering

Arrest

See also

References