U.S. Sanctions Eight Canadian Firms Over Alleged Iran Sanctions Evasion and Money Laundering for Former Olympian
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned eight money services businesses in Ontario and British Columbia, accusing them of helping Iranian entities evade financial sanctions and laundering millions of dollars for alleged drug kingpin and former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned eight Canadian money services businesses located in Ontario and British Columbia, alleging they helped Iranian entities evade financial sanctions and laundered proceeds of crime, including funds linked to former Olympic snowboarder and alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding.
The targeted firms were identified in coordination with Fintrac, Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog. The sanctioned companies include Diverse Trade Inc. (Million Exchange), 1380079 BC Limited (Amin Exchange), Top PC Technician Inc., NIA Nations Currency Ltd., 2397639 Ontario Ltd. (Farah Exchange), CCC Inc., B Galaxy Inc. (Cryptoyal), and Darvish Exchange.
The sanctions effectively cut the Canadian firms off from the U.S. dollar-based financial system. Their assets held in the United States are blocked, and transactions between the firms and American people or entities are banned. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators providing sanctions-evasion services to the Iranian regime.
Several of the sanctioned entities allegedly worked with Wedding, who represented Canada in snowboarding slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The U.S. Treasury alleges that three of those businesses helped Wedding launder millions of dollars in drug money through the transfer of digital assets before his arrest in January. Wedding was convicted in the United States of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to prison in 2010. U.S. authorities allege that after his release from prison, he resumed drug trafficking under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
Wedding was arrested in Mexico in January and taken to the United States to face drug trafficking, murder, and attempted murder charges. He remains in federal custody awaiting trials scheduled for March and October of next year. A year ago, eight people were arrested in Canada as part of the U.S. investigation into Wedding. Additionally, Mexican judge Luis Benitez Alcantara was arrested on allegations of accepting a $2-million bribe to grant bail to Andrew Clark, who is accused of acting as second-in-command to Wedding.
The enforcement action follows broader efforts by the U.S. government to disrupt financial channels sustaining the Iranian regime. In August, the Trump administration expanded secondary sanctions on entities and countries maintaining business connections with Iran.