Treasury Issues IRGC Oil Laundering Alert

The U.S. Treasury Department issued an alert on Monday urging financial institutions to monitor and report suspected money laundering networks linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, focusing on schemes that use shell companies and cryptocurrency to handle revenue from sanctioned oil sales.

The guidance, issued through the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, highlights red flags such as newly formed companies transferring large sums to Iranian cryptocurrency firms, oil shipments mislabeled as Malaysian blend to conceal Iranian origins, falsified shipping documents, and ship-to-ship transfers at sea. These methods enable Iran to evade sanctions on its oil trade, which officials estimate exceeds $10 billion annually. Neither specific cryptocurrencies nor companies were named in the alert.

A Treasury report accompanying the guidance detailed transactions by oil firms connected to Iran totaling roughly $4 billion in 2024, with dozens of shipping companies in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong processing at least $707 million through U.S. accounts that year. The alert builds on actions taken in April, when the Treasury sent warnings to banks in...