The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated more than 30 individuals and entities linked to Iranian brothers Mansour, Nasser, and Fazlolah Zarringhalam for laundering billions of dollars through Iranian exchange houses and foreign front companies as part of Iran’s “shadow banking” network. In parallel, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an updated advisory to help financial institutions identify, prevent, and report suspicious activity connected with Iranian illicit finance, including oil smuggling, shadow banking, and weapons procurement. The designations target the brothers’ Iran-based exchange houses and a wider set of Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates front companies used to run multi-currency settlement arrangements and facilitate payments for sanctioned Iranian entities tied to Iran’s oil and petrochemical trade and military-related actors. Examples cited include GCM Exchange’s role in assisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force and the Astan Quds Foundation in collecting approximately USD 100 million through currency exchanges, and Hong Kong cover companies facilitating multi-million-dollar payments linked to National Iranian Oil Company transactions. OFAC stated the action was taken under Executive Orders 13902 and 13846 and described it as the first round of sanctions targeting Iranian shadow banking infrastructure since National Security Presidential Memorandum 2. The designations block property and interests in property of the listed persons within U.S. jurisdiction and generally prohibit U.S. persons from transactions involving them absent authorization, with entities 50% or more owned by blocked persons also treated as blocked. FinCEN’s updated advisory is intended to inform financial institutions’ controls and reporting on the typologies described.
U.S. Department of the Treasury 2025-06-06
U.S. Department of the Treasury designates Zarringhalam-linked shadow banking network laundering billions for Iran and updates FinCEN advisory
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated over 30 individuals and entities linked to Iranian brothers for laundering billions through Iran’s shadow banking network. Concurrently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an advisory to help financial institutions identify and report suspicious activities related to Iranian illicit finance. The designations, under Executive Orders 13902 and 13846, block property within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit transactions with the listed entities.