The United States government has designated a Nigerian and eight other individuals and entities as terrorist financiers, exposing a global ISIS money movement network that stretches from West Africa through Europe to the Middle East and has been operating across Nigeria, France, Syria, and Türkiye.

The designations, announced by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on June 22, 2026, and confirmed by State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott, target three individuals and six entities accused of enabling ISIS to move funds across borders to support its terrorist operations, regional affiliates, and attacks on civilian populations including religious minorities.

US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent said ISIS “continues to seek new methods and tools to finance terrorist attacks,” and pledged that Washington would deploy every available tool to crush the group’s remaining capabilities.

At the centre of the Nigerian dimension of the network is Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, a Lagos-based facilitator born in 1990 and residing in the Agege area of the city. Muhammad is identified by Washington as a financial operator for ISIS in West Africa, a regional affiliate of the global terror organisation. He is accused of conducting money transfers on behalf of the group and is alleged to own, control, or direct three bureau de change businesses now also blacklisted: Nine to Nine Exchange Bureau de Change and Generation Currency Bureau de Change, both in Lagos, and Manhattan Bureau de Change, based in Kano. All three firms are now on the US Specially Designated Nationals list, with all their assets and property in the United States or held by US persons blocked and subject to mandatory reporting.

Also named in the sweeping designations is France-based Miloud Abderrahmane, who is accused of providing ISIS supporters with information concerning the use of explosives, and Syria-based Abdelhakim Boukich also known as Abu Sulayman Alholandi who established and directed Bitcoin Xchange, a cryptocurrency-based money service business through which he allegedly transferred funds for ISIS associates across multiple countries including Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States.

Two Turkish money services firms also feature among the six blacklisted entities.

The US government framed the action within the broader context of its deepening counterterrorism partnership with Nigeria. Washington specifically cited the joint US-Nigeria military operation of May 16, 2026, which resulted in the killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki the second-in-command of ISIS globally and the head of the group’s General Directorate of Provinces as evidence of the two countries’ shared resolve against the terror network.

The State Department said it would continue pressing that partnership through both diplomatic and legal instruments to hold ISIS and its financial backers accountable wherever they operate and however they move money.

Nigerian authorities have not yet issued a formal response to the designations. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s spokesperson did not respond to enquiries, while the Nigerian Army declined to comment, and the Nigeria Police Force said it was checking with its cybercrime unit for relevant information.