US Treasury sanctions eight Canadian firms over Iran

The US Treasury on Friday, November 6, 2026, sanctioned eight money services businesses based in Ontario and British Columbia. It said the firms helped the Iranian regime and sanctioned Iranian entities move money across borders, often by turning Iranian rials into digital assets. The action falls under Operation Economic Outcast and was coordinated with FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit. Treasury also alleged that several of the firms laundered drug money for accused trafficker Ryan Wedding.home.treasury.gov

"Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. He added that Treasury "will pursue and disrupt the Iranian regime's financial channels anywhere in the world".reuters.com

The firms and the allegations

The sanctioned firms are Diverse Trade Inc (doing business as Million Exchange), 1380079 BC Limited, Top PC Technician Inc, NIA Nations Currency Ltd, 2397639 Ontario Ltd (doing business as Farah Exchange), CCC Inc, B Galaxy Inc and Darvish Exchange. Treasury said many of them dealt with sanctioned Iranian crypto exchanges, including Nobitex, Wallex and Shelbit, and with digital asset addresses linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It said Million Exchange sent the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars to IRGC-linked or terrorism-related addresses. Darvish Exchange advertised swapping Bitcoin ↘ 0.16% for Iranian rials.home.treasury.gov+1

Any assets the firms hold in the United States are now blocked, and US persons are barred from doing business with them. In effect, this cuts them off from the dollar-based financial system. Treasury said some of the firms had changed their names and addresses to avoid detection and were still operating.reuters.com+1

Links to Ryan Wedding

Treasury said Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder already under US sanctions, used currency exchanges around Vancouver and Toronto to launder billions of dollars in drug proceeds. According to Treasury, couriers brought bulk cash to the exchanges, which converted it into digital assets and sent it abroad. It named Million Exchange, Amin Exchange and Farah Exchange as businesses that handled his money. The Canadian Press reported that Wedding allegedly moved millions of dollars this way before his arrest in January. Treasury said the Drug Enforcement Administration also took part in the action.orilliamatters.com+1

A widening campaign

Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast in August to cut off the money that sustains the Iranian regime and the IRGC, including the regime's use of cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. Earlier actions targeted Iranian exchanges Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex on June 2, and Aban Tether Exchange and Shelbit on August 7. Also on Friday, Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an order cutting off Seychelles-incorporated crypto exchange MEXC Global from the US financial system. FinCEN says MEXC facilitated at least $16 billion in illicit transactions linked to Iran, North Korea and Russia.home.treasury.gov+1