US collects $7 million in Iranian assets amid pursuit of 'complex international conspiracy'
The funds are just a piece of a larger investigation that includes up to a billion dollars worth of Iranian assets.
A complex international scheme to outmaneuver US sanctions against Iran has yielded the US government $7 million in Iranian funds that will now be used toward Americans affected by international state sponsors of terrorism, the US Justice Department announced on Tuesday.
In coordination with the FBI, IRS, domestic offices and multiple foreign partners from the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and the country of Georgia, the US Department of Justice announced that the funds are just a piece of a much larger puzzle that includes up to a billion dollars worth of Iranian assets. The collection comes as tensions continue to escalate between Washington and Tehran in the final days of US President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The funds subject to today’s stipulation had been destined to benefit criminal actors who engaged in an elaborate scheme to violate US sanctions against Iran, one of the world’s leading state sponsors of terrorism,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in a statement.
The global conspiracy began in 2011 and included three Iranian nationals and one alleged US citizen, according to the US Justice Department. The scheme defrauded South Korean banks by submitting false documents showing companies doing legitimate business with Korean companies. The plan succeeded, according to the department, and allowed the conspirators to transfer approximately $1 billion worth of Iranian-owned funds out of South Korea and into the world’s financial markets. The scheme ran until 2014.
