The U.S. Treasury sanctioned eight Canadian money services businesses in British Columbia and Ontario in connection with alleged Iran sanctions-evasion and money laundering.
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The United States Treasury has imposed sanctions on eight Canadian businesses it says helped evade sanctions targeting Iran’s government, including several tied to alleged drug trafficker Ryan Wedding.
In a news release, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions-evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” adding that the department will “pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime’s financial channels anywhere in the world.”
According to the department, the sanctions cover money services businesses in British Columbia and Ontario coordinated with FINTRAC, Canada’s anti-money-laundering watchdog.
The U.S. Treasury said several of the sanctioned entities also worked with Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder alleged to have used such services to launder millions of dollars in drug proceeds through the transfer of digital assets.
The department named businesses including the Million Exchange, NIA Nations Currency, Farah Exchange, Darvish Exchange and multiple numbered companies, with locations identified in Ontario and British Columbia.
Wedding was arrested in Mexico in January and is being held in federal custody in the United States while awaiting two trials scheduled for March and October next year on drug trafficking, murder and attempted murder charges. The U.S. Department of Justice said he is accused of ordering murders of several people, including a witness who could testify against him in a 2024 narcotics case.
The U.S. Treasury move adds to a broader series of actions targeting financial transactions tied to sanctions evasion as the United States continues its conflict with Iran.
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