Compliance Corner: US Treasury, Iran

Editorial Staff

27 March 2019

US Treasury
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has acted against 25 individuals and entities, including a network of Iran, UAE, and Turkey-based front companies, for transferring more than a billion dollars and euros to Iran.

At the heart of the case is Iran-based Ansar Bank and its foreign exchange arm, Ansar Exchange.

Specifically, the transfers were to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, the US Treasury said in a statement.

“Today’s action exposes an extensive sanctions evasion network established by the Iranian regime, which it increasingly relies on as the United States’ maximum pressure campaign severely constricts the regime’s sources of revenue,” the department continued.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: “We are targeting a vast network of front companies and individuals located in Iran, Turkey, and the UAE to disrupt a scheme the Iranian regime has used to illicitly move more than a billion dollars in funds."

Through Ansar Bank, the Iranian regime established a layered network of front companies based in Iran, Turkey, and the UAE to bypass sanctions, gain access to the international financial system, and exchange devalued Iranian rial for dollars and euros. Ansar Bank also used international free zones to establish front companies, the Treasury said.