🔻New York prosecutors seek to seize $61 million from Iran’s oil revenues

🔻New York prosecutors seek to seize $61 million from Iran’s oil revenues

The U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of New York has filed a complaint seeking the seizure of $61 million in cryptocurrency derived from proceeds of oil sales in the black market by Iranian military forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Shanes S. Buckley, the U.S. Deputy Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and Jamescy Barnackl Jr., Deputy Director and head of the New York field office, announced the filing of the seizure complaint for approximately $61 million in cryptocurrency.

Assets that, according to prosecutors, were obtained from the sale of “illegal” Iranian crude oil and sanctioned oil products are intended to “finance the Iranian government and its military institutions,” including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. government considers a “terrorist” organization.

Mr. Buckley said: “The Iranian government relies on the sale of sanctioned crude oil in the black market to finance its military forces and to fuel terrorism in the Middle East and around the world, as well as to advance other destructive actions such as the development of a nuclear program and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.”

He also said that “the Iranian government used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and other places to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit proceeds from oil sales.”

According to him, these proceeds were supposed to be used “to strengthen the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

“We are today pursuing the seizure and pursuit of more than $61 million in funds belonging to the Government of Iran—money that otherwise would have been used for hostile military actions and terrorist attacks against the United States and our allies.”