web hosting service company . for the defunct computer game publisher see infocom . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message infocom corporation type defunct industry web hosting service founded 1992 headquarters dallas texas richardson texas key people ghassan elashi bayan elashi ihsan elashi hazim elashi basman elashi website infocomusa.com infocom corporation was a web hosting service company founded by five brothers in 1992 . 1 it was initially based in dallas texas 2 and before its dissolution it was based in richardson texas . 3 on october 13 2005 infocom corporation was sentenced to two years probation resulting in it being shut down due to charges of conspiracy to violate the export administration regulations and the libyan sanctions regulations . 4 its founding members were also convicted on charges of false statements money laundering and fundraising on behalf of the u.s. terrorist designated hamas . 4 contents 1 founding members 2 activities 3 terrorist ties 3.1 al qaeda 3.2 hamas 4 references 5 external links founding members edit infocom was jointly founded in 1992 by bayan elashi ghassan elashi basman elashi hazim and ihsan sammy elashi as a family run business that mostly sold computers and internet services to customers primarily based in the middle east . 4 bayan elashi was infocom chief executive officer ghassan elashi was the company vice president of marketing while basman elashi was the logistics and credit manager . hazim elashi served as infocom manager of personal computer systems and ihsan elashi was a systems consultant and sales representative . 4 activities edit at its peak it hosted approximately 500 mostly arab websites . citation needed the company hosted the domain . iq for the country of iraq . 5 6 the company hosted websites for muslim organizations in the united states including the holy land foundation for relief and development the islamic association for palestine the islamic society of north america and the muslim students association . the company also hosted websites for entities abroad including the qatari television station al jazeera the qatari newspaper al sharq and berzeit palestinian university of the west bank . 5 however not only did infocom provide computer services to organizations and entities with terrorist ties ; legal proceedings confirmed that the corporation laundered money on behalf of hamas transferred funds to its political leader and exported technology to libya and syria in violation of u.s. export control regulations that restrict or prohibit the export of technology goods or software to countries listed as sponsors of terrorism . 4 7 terrorist ties edit infocom corporation achieved notoriety for its connections with terrorist organizations al qaeda and hamas and with the holy land foundation for relief and development . 8 in early 2001 the dallas morning news first started to publish stories about infocom s suspected ties to hamas although the fbi had launched a criminal investigation in 1999 . evidence collected during a three day raid of the offices of infocom corporation beginning on september 5 2001 conducted by the u.s. joint terrorist task force definitively confirmed infocom s affiliation with terrorist organizations . 8 al qaeda edit infocom attracted the attention of the u.s. authorities in 1998 when the name of an employee was found among the contact information listed in the address book of osama bin laden s former personal secretary wadih el hage discovered by the fbi . the employee concerned ghassan dahduli ran the islamic association for palestine iap that had been co founded by ghassan elashi . 8 9 both el hage and dahduli lived in tucson arizona until 1990 when the latter moved to richardson texas with the iap office . in 1998 both met again in texas . the connection between el hage and dahduli prompted the fbi to open an investigation that led to the holy land foundation trials as well as to the terrorist designation of a number of affiliated entities . the holy land foundation for relief and development was the largest islamic charitable group present in the u.s. that was convicted of providing financial and material support to hamas and shut down by u.s. authorities after being designated as a terrorist organization in december 2001 . 8 hamas edit in his book hamas politics charity and terrorism in the service of jihad matthew levitt reported that infocom was actively involved in fundraising on behalf of hamas but also provided services to hamas members front organizations and supporters . 7 ghassan elashi who served as infocom vice president was one of the founders and chairman of the holy land foundation for relief and development . 10 ghassan was the founder of the texas based chapter of the council on american relations cair a muslim advocacy group directly related to the muslim brotherhood in the u.s. and a co founder of the holy land foundation for relief and development . 7 ghassan was also one of the founders of the islamic association of palestine iap as association that has been accused of raising money for hamas in the u.s. and which shares founding members and trustees with cair . 9 ghassan was also related by marriage to mousa abu marzook a palestinian senior member of hamas then serving as a political leader of the u.s. designated terrorist organization . 10 marzook himself was listed as a specially designated terrorist by the u.s. treasury department in 1995 . 11 nonetheless marzook was a major investor in infocom 11 and the corporation engaged on a regular basis in financial dealings with both abu marzook and his wife nadia elashi . 7 fbi criminal investigations ascertained that abu marzook invested 150 000 in infocom in 1992 while his wife invested 250 000 in 1993 . 8 12 over the years the former owners have been convicted of a multitude of charges involving funneling money to and doing business with terrorist organizations . the corporation already defunct was sentenced to two years probation 13 in july 2004 all five brothers were convicted on charges they conspired to violate the export administration regulations and the libyan sanctions regulations . 4 according to u.s. department of justice records all brothers with the exception of ihsan elashi were also convicted on money laundering charges . 4 furthermore in april 2005 the jury found that bayan elashi ghassan elashi basman elashi and infocom corporation conspired and transferred funds to mousa abu marzook . 4 ihsan elashi and the company itself remain on the u.s. department of commerce s denied persons list with an expiration date of june 29 2056 ; the list gives ihsan elashi s current address as fci seagoville . 14 references edit memorandum opinion and order re united states of america v. bayan elashi 1 ghassan elashi 2 basman elashi 3 infocom corporation 8 retrieved on june 4 2011 . welcome to infocom corp. infocom corporation . retrieved on may 21 2010 . contact infocom corporation . infocom corporation . retrieved on may 21 2010 . a b c d e f g h infocom corporation and its operators sentenced in federal court . u.s. department of justice . 2006 10 13 . retrieved 2016 01 14 . a b us pulls the plug on muslim websites . the guardian . september 10 2001 . retrieved on may 21 2010 . . iq iraq . internet assigned numbers authority . august 15 2000 . retrieved on may 21 2010 . a b c d levitt m. 2008 . hamas politics charity and terrorism in the service of jihad . new haven and london yale university press . p. 165 . a b c d e infocom corporation . www.historycommons.org . retrieved 2016 01 14 . a b kushner harvey v. 1998 . the future of terrorism violence in the new millenium . sage . p. 50 . a b backgrounder the holy land foundation for relief and development . archive.adl.org . retrieved 2016 01 14 . a b money trail of terror . www.cbsnews.com . retrieved 2016 01 14 . terrorism task force detains richardson man with ties to bin laden secretary . www.freerepublic.com . retrieved 2016 01 14 . infocom corporation and its operators sentenced in federal court . united states department of justice . october 13 2006 . retrieved on may 21 2010 . united states department of commerce bureau of industry and security november 17 2010 . the current list of active denied persons . retrieved 2010 12 12 . fact sheet on the elashi brothers and infocom . site intelligence group . 2002 12 18 . retrieved 2008 11 24 . dead link profile infocom corporation . retrieved 2008 11 24 . cair leader convicted on terror charges . retrieved 2008 11 24 . external links edit dallas fort worth portal companies portal internet portal terrorism portal infocom archive retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title infocom corporation & oldid 743419375 categories front organizationscompanies based in dallascompanies based in richardson texashidden categories articles needing additional references from may 2010all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from may 2010all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from october 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 15 35 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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