The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the forfeiture of nearly $12 million linked to Triliance Petrochemical Company Limited, an Iranian front company involved in supporting Iran's petrochemical industry. This decision was made on November 21, 2024, and announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent John Condon, and FBI Special Agent Alvin Winston.
The court's ruling followed a Motion for Default Judgment filed by the United States. The judgment found that funds connected to Triliance served as a "source of influence over the IRGC and IRGC-QF." The potential claimants, all front companies organized by Triliance for the Iranian regime, did not claim an interest in these funds. Consequently, all rights to the forfeited money were transferred to the United States.
Triliance was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) on January 23, 2020, for transferring funds related to Iranian petroleum sales on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Subsequently, OFAC also sanctioned NIOC and Iran's Ministry of Petroleum under counterterrorism authority due to their financial support for designated foreign terrorist organizations like IRGC and IRGC-QF.
Following these sanctions against Triliance, several entities such as Petrochem South East Limited and Dynapex Energy Limited were established as front companies to continue illicitly selling Iranian petroleum using U.S. financial systems. These entities have also been sanctioned by OFAC.
One notable transaction occurred on August 27, 2020, when a Singapore company wired over $5 million through a U.S. bank to Dynapex for purchasing Iranian petroleum products. At that time, multiple oil tankers associated with Dynapex were found in Iranian waters with presumed cargoes of Iranian petroleum.
This investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigation’s Tampa Bay Field Office and FBI Minneapolis Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rajbir Datta and Trial Attorney Yifei Zheng led the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Brian Rickers and others.