The US District Court for the District of Alaska recently filed a forfeiture complaint against Kenneth Zong, a US citizen. Zong allegedly violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and federal money laundering statutes. As a result, assets worth over $20 million are subject to forfeiture.
Zong is suspected to have conspired with three Iranian nationals to avoid the bans under the IEEPA and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR). They purportedly engaged in false and fraudulent transactions and illegally converted Iranian owned funds to over $1 billion. The conversion enabled transactions through US financial institutions and allowed the suspects to launder the funds through many shell companies in multiple jurisdictions.
Zong’s accomplices tried to purchase a hotel in Georgia using over $20 million of these funds in 2011 and 2012. It is this amount to which the US Department of Justice compliant pertains. The FBI and IRS-CI are further investigating this case.