The Justice Department has also targeted cryptocurrency proceeds from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated BitBank, a priority digital assets venture controlled by an already-designated Iranian financier, as part of Operation Economic Outcast.
“The entities and individuals designated [on Thursday] are key components of the Iranian regime’s digital assets-based sanctions evasion infrastructure,“ the Treasury Department explained. “Since June of this year, OFAC-designated Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has used BitBank to transfer payments it received to the Iranian regime.“
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the “designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC’s reach. If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also announced a civil lawsuit against approximately $61 million of cryptocurrency, alleged to be the proceeds of a black-market sale of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products to finance the Iranian government and military, which includes Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Two Chinese companies are accused of using cryptocurrency trading accounts to launder the proceeds of the black-market oil sales back to the Iranian Government.
“The Government of Iran relies on black-market sales of sanctioned crude oil to fund its military and foster terrorism in the Middle East and around the world, along with other malign efforts to develop a nuclear program and ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear payloads,“ Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley stated. “As alleged in the complaint filed today, the Government of Iran used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and elsewhere to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money intended to benefit the Iranian military and the terror-designated IRGC.“
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Secretary Bessent as he heads Operation Economic Outcast to eliminate the cashflow of the Isalmic Republic.
- For U.S. Deputy Attorney Sean Buckley as he prosecutes the case against the entities charged with supporting the Iranian regime.
- For wisdom for President Trump and his advisors as they monitor the United States’ conflict with Iran.
Sources: Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, CoinDesk
