OFAC Designates Network Helping Iran Evade Sanctions

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of people and companies that it said are helping Iran move money, sell oil and evade international sanctions. The designations target financial facilitators in Iran, as well as more than a dozen people and companies based in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

OFAC sanctioned Iranian nationals Alireza Derakhshan and Arash Estaki Alivand for helping to coordinate more than $100 million worth of cryptocurrency for oil sales for the Iranian government. They used a network of front companies to transfer those funds, including Minato Commercial Brokers.

OFAC also sanctioned UAE-based Powell Raw Materials Trading LLC; Powell International FZE; and Alpa Trading – FZCO for their ties to Iran, as well as UAE-based Alpa Investment LLC and Hong Kong-based Alpa Hong Kong Ltd. Vahid Derakhshan and Leila Karimi also were named as other people involved in those companies’ “financial activities,” and OFAC said they have links to UAE-based Paul AD Sons Trading FZE, Unique Station Trading, Minato Investment LLC, Minato Goods Wholesalers, Everest Investment LLC and Alliance First Trading LLC as well.

The agency said Alireza and Vahid Derakhshan, along with Karimi, "use this group of front companies to knowingly facilitate illicit flows of funds including for the purchase of products on behalf of" the Iranian military, “and these companies collectively handle hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in transactions.”