US Sanctions Shelbit and Aban Tether for Iran-Linked Money Laundering

The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on two Iranian-linked cryptocurrency exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether. These sanctions are part of a $5 million money-laundering case involving Siavash Kayvanpour, a key figure in the network.

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accused the network of assisting in the evasion of sanctions and linking to the IRGC. The action blocks US-related property and transactions with designated entities.

Aban Tether was also added to the sanctions list, along with Shelbit and Kayvanpour. The Treasury claimed that Shelbit processed tens of millions of dollars in digital assets linked to an online gambling website in Persian, which were used to mask the source of the money.

The network enabled the transfer and anonymization of digital assets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and played a role in sanctions-evasion activities. The Treasury said that IRGC-controlled crypto addresses sent over $1 million to wallets associated with Shelbit, while Shelbit sent over $2 million to IRGC-controlled wallets.

OFAC also designated Iran-based digital currency exchange Aban Tether for conducting millions of dollars worth of transactions with previously sanctioned Iranian exchanges. The sanctions highlight the growing risks faced by cryptocurrency exchanges engaging with entities linked to high-risk countries.