US Sanctions Two Iran-Linked Crypto Exchanges Over $5M Money Laundering
The US Treasury Department has sanctioned two Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, Shelbit and Aban Tether, along with Siavash Kayvanpour, a key figure behind a network of companies involved in illicit crypto activity.
The sanctions accuse the network of assisting in the evasion of sanctions and linking to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
According to the Treasury Department, Shelbit enabled the transfer and anonymization of digital assets linked to the IRGC and processed tens of millions of dollars in digital assets from an online gambling website in Persian.
The department also claimed that Shelbit sent over $1 million to wallets associated with the exchange, while IRGC-controlled crypto addresses sent over $2 million to wallets associated with Shelbit.