US Sanctions Georgia-Based Crypto Company Over Alleged Ties to Iran's IRGC
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on a Georgia-based cryptocurrency company as part of its efforts to target networks accused of financing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and facilitating illicit financial activity.
The sanctions specifically target companies and individuals involved in networks that support the IRGC through digital currency transactions, with one such individual being Siavash Kayvanpour.
Kayvanpour, who holds citizenship of Dominica and Afghanistan and has resided in the United Arab Emirates, operates a multinational network of companies involved in illicit digital currency activity, according to the Treasury Department. He is also linked to the Shelbit Exchange through SHPS Shelbit, a company based in Georgia.
The Treasury Department claims that digital currency addresses associated with the IRGC had transferred more than $1 million worth of digital assets to addresses belonging to the Shelbit Exchange, while over $2 million worth of digital assets were transferred in the opposite direction, from Shelbit Exchange addresses to cryptocurrency addresses associated with the IRGC.