Middle East and Africa Bank (MEAB)

Middle East and Africa Bank (MEAB) is a Lebanese commercial bank. It appears in economic-statecraft analysis because Kassem Hejeij, described in a 2020 court judgment as its founder and former owner and manager, was designated by the United States in 2015 and because civil litigants have made allegations concerning the bank. Those facts do not establish that MEAB itself is designated or liable.

On 10 June 2015, the United States Treasury designated Kassem Hejeij under Executive Order 13224. Treasury alleged that he had provided financial services to Hezbollah. The designation applied to Hejeij personally. In its 16 September 2020 opinion in Hejeij v Gacki, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia reviewed OFAC's denial of his delisting petition and upheld the agency's decision under the deferential Administrative Procedure Act standard. That judgment did not convict Hejeij of a criminal offence or designate MEAB.

In Bartlett v Société Générale de Banque au Liban SAL, a 31 March 2023 discovery order identified Middle East Africa Bank SAL among the Lebanese banks named in the plaintiffs' amended complaint under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The court described allegations that the banks provided financial services connected to Hezbollah. It ruled on document production and foreign bank-secrecy objections, not the merits of those allegations. This entry does not infer institutional knowledge, intent or liability from that discovery order.

The cited personal designation, administrative-review judgment and discovery order do not establish MEAB's current sanctions-list status. Users must screen the bank's exact names and aliases, ownership and counterparties against live lists. This entry makes no current negative screening finding.

MEAB illustrates an attribution problem common in financial pressure campaigns. A designation of a bank officer can create correspondent and reputational risk for the institution without legally designating the bank. Accurate analysis must separate the individual, the institution, official allegations, civil claims and adjudicated findings.

See also

Kassem Hejeij · Asset freeze · Correspondent banking de-risking · Office of Foreign Assets Control (United States) · Lebanon · Jammal Trust Bank

Sources

1. US Department of the Treasury, designation of Kassem Hejeij, 10 June 2015.
2. *Hejeij v Gacki*, No. 19-cv-1921 (TFH), memorandum opinion, US District Court for the District of Columbia, 16 September 2020.
3. OFAC Sanctions List Search.
4. Middle East and Africa Bank, official website.

1. United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Bartlett v Société Générale de Banque au Liban SAL, No. 19-CV-7 (CBA) (TAM), Document 320, memorandum and order (31 March 2023), pp. 1-3 and 34.
2. Middle East and Africa Bank, “History of MEAB bank”, accessed 18 October 2026.