Assisting banks to identify and stop money laundering in support of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the aim of an alert issued Monday by the Treasury’s top financial crimes unit.
The same unit, later in the day, issued a warning of threat of human trafficking during the World Cup soccer tournament, especially in cities hosting the event.
In the first alert, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the Treasury in a release asserted that the IRGC, an arm of the government of Iran, has engaged in terrorist activity. “The Alert outlines how the IRGC facilitates and launders the proceeds of illicit oil sales by using networks of shell companies and financial facilitators,” FinCEN said. “To promote detection and reporting of suspicious activity by financial institutions, the Alert provides red flags related to the IRGC’s oil smuggling, front company abuse, and use of digital assets.”
Examples of red flags offered by FinCEN include:
- Shipping companies with Iranian counterparties;
- Efforts to disguise vessel information and ownership, or efforts to disguise oil origins;
- Unusual use of exchange houses;
- Unusual digital asset payments by petroleum, shipping, trading, or trust companies;
- Unregistered peer-to-peer (P2P) exchangers, foreign-located money services businesses (MSBs), and nested digital asset service providers.
In the second alert, FinCEN warned banks and others of possible human trafficking during the 2026 World Cup hosted in various cities June 11-July 19 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
FinCEN said cities and metro areas in the U.S. hosting the event include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle.
Among other things, FinCEN noted that financial institutions are key partners in combating human trafficking, noted that sex trafficking during major events are typical, and that labor trafficking (exploitative employment of victims to meet the increased demand for labor and services during these events) is also prevalent.
FinCEN Issues Alert to Stop Money Laundering by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps
FinCEN Issues Notice on the Threat of Human Trafficking During the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Leave a Reply