401: Lara Burns - Holy Land Foundation, Hamas Terrorist Financing Case

In this episode, retired agent Lara Burns reviews her investigation of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based charitable organization, which led to the conviction of some of Hamas’ top fundraisers in the United States. The government charged that HLF was created for the sole purpose of acting as a financing arm for Hamas. It has been illegal to provide financial support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, since 1995.

Five former leaders and the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) were convicted on 108 counts of providing material support to Hamas and money laundering, resulting in a $12.4 million money judgment. Sentences for the defendants ranged from 15 years to 65 years in prison.

Special Agent (Retired)

Lara Burns

9/1999 – 4/2023

Retired agent Lara Burns served in the FBI for over 23 years. She was assigned to the Dallas Division, where she worked on complex international terrorism investigations, including the Holy Land Foundation terrorist financing case.

She was later hand-selected to serve as an FBI Special Assistant United States Attorney (SAUSA) for the United States Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas, where she was assigned to the National Security Section to litigate a variety of federal criminal cases. After eighteen-months, she returned to the FBI Dallas Field Office as a supervisor of the counterterrorism squad and International Terrorism Program Coordinator. In that capacity, she led investigations and prosecutions in various terrorism matters that spanned the globe. She was also an FBI instructor for most of her career, teaching federal, state, local, and foreign governments about terrorism financing, money laundering, and interview techniques.

After her retirement from the FBI, Lara worked as a cybersecurity researcher in the private sector until she joined the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University, a leading research center on all forms of extremism. The program runs a number of podcasts exploring extremist movements and ideological threats. Lara Burns is the host of two podcasts.

Echoes of Terrorism: Terrorism doesn’t disappear. It echoes. A bombing. A hijacking. A hostage crisis. Moments that shocked the world… survive in movements, propaganda, and the next generation of recruits.

INTIFADA: HAMAS in the US, Then and Now: A detailed investigation into Hamas’s 37-year presence in the U.S. provides a clear and informed understanding of Hamas’s role and strategies in the U.S.