DOJ Seeks to Forfeit $15 Million From Iran Oil Baron’s Firms

(Bloomberg) -- The US Justice Department filed two civil forfeiture complaints Friday related to a web of companies operated by an Iranian oil tycoon who was sanctioned last year and allegedly breached prohibitions while using a global network of banks.

The federal court complaints seek the forfeiture of more than $15 million allegedly used to fund an illicit Iranian oil distribution network operated by Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a top adviser to Iran’s former supreme leader. 

The proceeds were part of billions of dollars the US government alleges were laundered from the sale of Iranian and Russian oil, mostly to buyers in China, according to the filings. 

The US Treasury Department sanctioned Shamkhani last July, prior to the recent US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

A multiyear Bloomberg News investigation showed how Shamkhani built a secretive trading empire spanning Iranian oil sales, Russian arms deals and even a London hedge fund. Through a web of tankers, trading firms and shell companies, the network generated tens of billions of dollars in profit, according to the US Treasury.

Operating under aliases such as “H” and “Hector,” Shamkhani kept a low public profile even as his firms supplied international oil buyers and transacted with Wall Street banks, Bloomberg has reported. While recent sanctions have disrupted some of the network’s activities, people familiar with the matter say the group has reorganized itself to remain an important player in the market.

Shamkhani has denied any wrongdoing.

One of the cases is US v. $12,973,529, 26-cv-802, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). 

(Updates with Bloomberg News investigation in fifth paragraph and video.)

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