The United States filed a pair of civil forfeiture complaints to take $15.3 million in assets from the son of a recently slain top Iranian adviser.
The U.S. Justice Department alleges Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani used the funds to “operate multiple distribution companies” to sell and ship illicit Iranian oil and other commodities, and hide details about the network, including the source of the oil and people involved.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we have ZERO tolerance for foreign actors using the U.S. financial system to prop up our nation’s enemies,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This defendant was allegedly supporting” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “with millions of dollars in violation of U.S. sanctions. He will now pay a heavy price.”
Shamkhani, who was sanctioned by Washington last year, is the son of Ali Shamkhani, who was an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Both Khamenei and the elder Shamkhani, a former head of Iran’s National Defense Council, were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28.
The Justice Department says the finds are subject to forfeiture “because they afford a person a source of influence” over the National Iranian Oil Company, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the IRGC Quds Force, with the intention to aid in sanctions violations.
The Treasury Department says Shamkhani’s network is composed of “a vast fleet of vessels, ship management firms and front companies—some posing as legitimate financial services firms—that launder billions in profits from global sales of Iranian and Russian crude oil and other petroleum products, most often to buyers in China.”
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said, “Today’s civil forfeiture complaints illustrate the Criminal Division’s steadfast mission to prevent Iranian-backed shadow companies from using the U.S. financial system to support terrorist organizations, in violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran.
“The Department of Justice will use all of the tools at our disposal to prevent the U.S. banking system from being used in any manner to support Iran and its terrorist operations.”
