Shelbit's $4B Sanctions Evasion Network Through Dubai
Dubai-based Shelbit General Trading L.L.C., an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange, processed at least $4 billion in funds since May 2024. Despite a formal cease-and-desist order from Dubai's financial regulators on January 2, 2025, Shelbit continued to operate for 18 months.
The investigation found that Shelbit interacted directly with Iran's central bank, which has been under US counterterrorism sanctions since 2019, as well as wallets linked to the Revolutionary Guard and Nobitex, a Tehran-based domestic exchange sanctioned by the US Treasury earlier this year. At least $125 million connected to Iran's central bank was traced directly to Shelbit.
The funds eventually reached Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, with at least $676 million in Shelbit-linked funds transiting through users on its platform since May 2024. Of that total, approximately $540 million arrived after VARA had already ordered Shelbit to cease operations in January 2025.
The investigation also revealed a large-scale Iranian illegal gambling network, with over 2,000 Farsi-language websites offering slots, blackjack, and roulette to Iranian users. Two social-media influencers, Sasha Sobhani and Pooyan Mokhtari, front the operation and were convicted alongside exchange operator Siavash Kayvanpour in an Iranian court in 2023 for their roles in the illegal gambling ecosystem.
John Wojcik, a senior analyst at TRM Labs, described the scale as 'by far the biggest Iranian illegal gambling network ever discovered and one of the biggest in the world.' Rich Sanders, an independent blockchain researcher, stated that it's 'an IRGC operation, and that's plain as day.'