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OFAC Asks Banks to Monitor for Middle Eastern Remitters Aiding Iran
By Brian Monroe
printThe U.S. Treasury Department is investigating Middle Eastern currency exchange houses and trading companies purportedly helping Iranians evade sanctions, officials said Thursday. The businesses have served as money transmitters by processing transactions through their commercial banking accounts, officials with the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on a conference call. To circumvent international sanctions, the firms are intentionally omitting references to Iran in wire data fields, they said. "This is not a trend that is limited to one company," said OFAC Director Adam Szubin, during the call. "This is happening across a number of countries and companies that...
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