The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on eight Canadian currency-exchange businesses accused of aiding the Iranian regime and, in some cases, assisting an alleged drug trafficker. The U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that these companies helped Iranian entities evade financial sanctions and laundered proceeds of crime by converting Iranian rials and other currencies into digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent emphasized that 'Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies.' The sanctions block the Canadian firms from the U.S. dollar-based financial system, freezing any assets they hold in the U.S. and banning transactions with American entities.
The targeted businesses, located in Ontario and British Columbia, include Diverse Trade Inc. (doing business as Million Exchange), 1380079 BC Limited (doing business as Amin Exchange), Top PC Technician Inc., NIA Nations Currency Ltd., 2397639 Ontario Ltd. (doing business as Farah Exchange), CCC Inc., B Galaxy Inc. (doing business as Cryptoyal), and Darvish Exchange. The Treasury accused some of these businesses of changing their names and addresses to evade detection.
Additionally, three of the sanctioned businesses were linked to Ryan Wedding, an Olympian-turned-alleged-drug-kingpin, helping him launder bulk cash into digital assets. The Treasury claimed that these companies transferred millions of dollars in digital funds abroad before Wedding's arrest in January.