United States Files Civil Forfeiture Complaint for $47 Million in Proceeds from the Sale of Iranian Oil

           WASHINGTON – A civil forfeiture complaint was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that $47 million in proceeds from the sale of nearly one million barrels of Iranian petroleum is forfeitable as property of, or affording a person a source of influence over, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or its Qods Force (IRGC-QF), designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

           The forfeiture was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, FBI Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston, Sr. of the Minneapolis Field Office, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Alfonso of the New York Office.

           The forfeiture complaint alleges a scheme between 2022 and 2024 to facilitate the shipment, storage, and sale of Iranian petroleum product for the benefit of the IRGC and IRGC-QF. The facilitators used deceptive practices to masquerade the Iranian oil as Malaysian, including by manipulating the tanker’s automatic identification system (AIS) to conceal that it onboarded the oil from a port in Iran. The facilitators presented falsified documents to the Croatian storage facility and port authority, claiming that the oil was Malaysian. The facilitators paid for storage fees associated with the oil’s storage at the Croatian facility in U.S. dollars, transactions that were conducted through U.S. financial institutions that would have refused the transactions had they known they were associated with Iranian oil. The petroleum product was sold in 2024, and the United States seized $47 million in proceeds from that sale.

           The civil forfeiture complaint further alleges that the petroleum product constitutes the property of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which has perpetuated a federal crime of terrorism by providing material support to the IRGC and IRGC-QF. As alleged, profits from petroleum product sales support the IRGC’s full range of malign activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and both domestic and international human rights abuses.

           “We will aggressively enforce U.S. sanctions against Iran, in furtherance of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign,” said U.S. Attorney Martin. “With the continued seizures of Iranian oil and U.S. dollar profits, we are sending a clear message to Iran that bypassing the sanctions put in place by the U.S. Government is not as easy as playing a shell game with tankers filled with oil. We remain committed to thwarting Iran’s devious attempts, and to deprive its terrorists of the funding they desire.”

           “The FBI will not allow hostile regimes to evade U.S. sanctions or exploit our financial systems to fund designated terrorist organizations,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Winston. “The FBI, alongside our partners, will relentlessly enforce U.S. sanctions against Iran and safeguard U.S. national security by disrupting illicit networks that seek to profit from sanctioned oil sales.”

           “Through the work of HSI’s Counterproliferation Investigations group, alongside the FBI, the U.S. government has seized $47 million worth of funds allegedly meant for terrorist groups intent on causing catastrophic harm," said HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Alfonso. "The expertise of HSI personnel, coupled with federal law enforcement’s whole-of-government approach, ensures the wellbeing of the United States and our innocent foreign counterparts, alike. We are relentlessly utilizing every tool at our disposal in pursuit of any and all security threats.”

           Funds successfully forfeited with a connection to a state sponsor of terrorism may in whole or in part be directed to the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

           FBI Minneapolis Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations New York are investigating the case.

           Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen P. Seifert, Maeghan O. Mikorski, and Brian Hudak for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney Adam Small of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are litigating the case. They received assistance from former Paralegal Specialist Brian Rickers and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

           A civil forfeiture complaint is merely an allegation.  The burden to prove forfeitability in a civil forfeiture proceeding is upon the government.