{"id":127240,"date":"2026-05-23T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/127240\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:00:14","slug":"sanctioned-iranian-businessman-helped-regime-skirt-sanctions-using-crypto-exchange-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/127240\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctioned Iranian businessman helped regime skirt sanctions using crypto exchange — report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iranian tycoon Babak Zanjani, whom the US has sanctioned<\/a> for processing funds for Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, carried out cryptocurrency transactions worth some $850 million on behalf of the regime on the world\u2019s largest crypto exchange, Binance, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The transactions are said to have taken place over two years, with most of them originating from a single trading account that was active for at least 15 months as of January, a month before the start of the US-Israel war against Iran. The report said \u201cthe vast sums show how Binance has been used as a financial artery for the IRGC,\u201d using the acronym for Iran\u2019s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n

The transactions, comprising both deposits and withdrawals, went through despite repeated red flags from Binance\u2019s internal investigators, and led to an estimated $425 million being funneled into the Iranian military, the Journal said, citing Binance documents, law enforcement officials and other sources familiar with the activity.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the transactions were carried out through a network of accounts operated from the same devices by Zanjani and associates, including his sister, romantic partner and a director of one of Zanjani\u2019s companies.<\/p>\n

Zanjani has long been a key figure in Iran\u2019s sanctions-evasion networks. He was sentenced to death by Iranian authorities in 2016 for embezzlement. His sentence was commuted in 2024. But Zanjani remains locked in a public spat with Iran\u2019s central bank, which accused him of failing to repay the stolen billions, and in December he published wallet addresses on social media that enabled outside crypto analysts to uncover a complex sanctions-evasion scheme, with Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex at its core.<\/p>\n

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Zanjani\u2019s network is said to have facilitated the transfer via Binance of over $1.7 billion that was flagged internally last November, \u201cmoving from Chinese clients into digital wallets used by Iran to finance its proxies.\u201d The Journal reported<\/a> earlier this year that Binance dismantled the team investigating that cash flow.<\/p>\n

According to the newspaper, foreign law-enforcement officials tracking billions of dollars flowing through Binance accounts to Iranian entities associated with the regime have identified transactions \u201cas recently as this month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Binance, which has sued the Journal over its past reporting, insisted the transactions reportedly linked to Zanjani \u201chave nothing to do\u201d with the crypto platform, and that \u201cBinance has zero-tolerance for illicit activity on its platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe Binance logo is displayed on a screen on June 6, 2023 in San Anselmo, California. (Justin Sullivan \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n

In 2023, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in the US to violating money-laundering and sanctions laws. US President Donald Trump pardoned him last year, though Binance is again being investigated over Iran\u2019s suspected continued use of the platform. Binance is a chief backer of the Trump family\u2019s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial.<\/p>\n

The Journal report came days after Reuters reported that Nobitex has processed at least $2.3 billion since 2023 BNB Chain and Tron, blockchains established respectively under Zhao and fellow crypto billionaires Justin Sun, and that Iranian money has kept moving through those two digital ledgers during the recent war. Users of Tron and BNB Chain pay fees to use the blockchains, which serve as secure, tamper-resistant record keepers.<\/p>\n

Like Binance, Sun is a prominent backer of World Liberty Financial, though there is no suggestion that the Trump family knew of Nobitex\u2019s use of Tron and BNB Chain.<\/p>\n

Since taking office, Trump has launched a suite of crypto-friendly policies and US regulators have paused enforcement actions against crypto companies and moguls. The Securities and Exchange Commission settled a lawsuit against Sun for alleged fraud in March for $10 million without Sun admitting any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n


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