Lafarge SA (OTC: HCMLY), a cement company based in France, has pleaded guilty to giving millions of dollars to the Islamic State, or ISIS, and another terror organization in exchange for allowing the company's factory in northern Syria to stay open during the country's ongoing conflict.
In 2012, executives from Lafarge first met and set up an agreement with several militia groups operating in northern Syria at the time. As the conflict escalated, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS), now defunct, started paying the ISIS, the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), and several other intermediaries for protection and assistance with beating out their competition.
"The defendants partnered with ISIS, one of the most brutal terrorist organizations the world has ever known, to enhance profits and increase market share, all while ISIS engaged in a notorious campaign of violence," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told reporters.
From August of 2013 to October of 2014, the Lafarge Cement Syria sent a total of $10.24 million to the groups in Syria. All the while, ISIS carried out a campaign of terror, including the abduction, torture, and murder of westerners. When jihadist groups threatened workers in the area, the company's willingness to pay the terrorist a percentage of their profits kept them protected.
"In the midst of a civil war, Lafarge made the unthinkable choice to put money into the hands of ISIS, one of the world's most barbaric terrorist organizations, so that it could continue selling cement," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. "Never before has a corporation been charged with providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations."
According to Peace's office, LCS executives compared paying off ISIS to "paying 'taxes.'" The cement factory sourced its materials from ISIS-controlled suppliers, paid monthly "donations" to ISIS and ANF, and its workers carried special militia-issued papers that guaranteed them safe passage.
"Lafarge did this not merely in exchange for permission to operate its cement plant - which would have been bad enough - but also to leverage its relationship with ISIS for economic advantage, seeking ISIS's assistance to hurt Lafarge's competition in exchange for a cut of Lafarge's sales," Peace said.
The company has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation and has agreed to pay $777.8 million to resolve the charges.
Lafarge says it has "accepted responsibility for the actions of the individual executives involved," adding that, "we deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve this matter."
"None of the conduct involved Lafarge operations or employees in the United States and none of the executives who were involved in the conduct are with Lafarge or any affiliated entities today," the cement company said in a statement.
Since its start in 2011, the Syrian civil war has resulted in the deaths of more than 300,000 civilians, the total destruction of more than a quarter of all structures in the country, and the displacement of millions of refugees.
In 2018, Lafarge was indicted in France on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity. Eight of the company's executives are also facing charges in its home country.
"It is clear that we have an issue with ISIS and Al Nusra," a Lafarge executive wrote in an August 2013 email, according to The New York Times. A month later, a report from the company's security committee stated that continuing operations in Syria would become increasingly untenable without working with known terrorist groups.
"The main challenge [is] to assess how far their demands and threats will reach, and consequently, the limits that we want to impose for the site to operate," the report read.
Later, an executive said that Lafarge's agreement with ISIS was like sharing a "cake", saying, "to me, the 'cake' is anything that is a 'profit.'"