The savages raised $20 mil off ransoms alone this year…
Via Washington Examiner:
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria makes $1 million a day from black market oil sales and has raised $20 million in ransom fees this year, according to a Treasury official who warned that the breadth of the terrorist group’s money-raising schemes makes cutting off its funding difficult.
The group “has amassed wealth at an unprecedented pace, and its revenue sources have a different composition from those of many other terrorist organizations,” said David Cohen, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Thursday, Cohen said that because the Islamic State does not rely on a few rich funders the way other terrorist groups have, the U.S. government will have to adjust its strategy for cutting off funds that support its military and terrorist activities.
“As with the rest of the campaign against [the Islamic State], our efforts to combat its financing will take time. We have no silver bullet, no secret weapon to empty [the Islamic State’s] coffers overnight. This will be a sustained fight, and we are in the early stages,” said Cohen, adding that the Treasury will remain committed to degrading the group’s financing as long as it threatens Iraq and Syria.