OFAC imposed sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader Financier and Shadow Exchange House Network

OFAC imposed blocking sanctions on eight individuals (seven in Iran and one in the United Arab Emirates) and six entities (three in Iran, one in Hong Kong, one in the UAE, and one in Saint Kitts and Nevis) under its Iran sanctions and counterterrorism programs for facilitating illicit financial flows benefiting Iran's Supreme Leader and sanctioned Iranian banks. The designations target a key financier for the Iranian Supreme Leader's office who has institutionalized large-scale embezzlement within the Iranian government and accumulated a global portfolio of real estate and commercial holdings across multiple jurisdictions on behalf of the Supreme Leader and elites, along with the controlling partners and operators of three major Iranian currency exchange houses that collectively move billions of dollars annually on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks using layers of shell companies and front operations to obscure illicit financial activity.