The US Department of Justice has announced the unsealing of 3 federal cases against defendants charged with terrorism and sanctions evasion for their roles in trafficking Iranian oil to fund Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In the Southern District of New York, 7 defendants, including a leader within Iran’s IRGC and officers of a Turkish energy group (ASB), are charged with terrorism, sanctions-evasion, fraud, and money laundering offences in connection with their trafficking and selling of Iranian oil to government-affiliated buyers in China, Russia, and Syria. The US seized $108 million which the OFAC-designated China Oil & Petrolium Company Limited allegedly attempted to launder.

In the District of Columbia, a Chinese woman and Omani man are charged with sanctions-evasion and money laundering offences in connection with the trafficking and selling of Iranian oil to Chinese government-owned refineries.

Also in the District of Columbia, a forfeiture complaint for the seizure of illicit Iranian oil was unsealed, alleging that more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian fuel is forfeitable under terrorism laws as property that provides a source of funding to the IRGC.

Source » globalsanctions