Iran ran the week

The US Treasury's OFAC sanctioned 36 companies and persons supporting Iran's civil aviation sector on 8 and 10 September, alongside counter-terrorism designations against Kata'ib Hizballah and Lebanese Hizballah commanders and Iraqi businessmen aiding sanctions evasion. Iran-related specific-licence applications now face a presumption of denial.

The Southern District of New York filed a verified in-rem forfeiture complaint on 14 September targeting more than $61m in USD Tether across ten TRON addresses, alleging Iran laundered over $1.5bn from illicit oil sales through crypto rails.

The Justice Department announced on 1 September the seizure of more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency linked to Hamas and the Al-Qassam Brigades, shuttering fundraising domains and tracing over $1.5m in USDT movements through rotating wallets since late 2024.

The UK Gambling Commission suspended the operating licences of BresBet and Bet St George between 31 August and 1 September and opened formal reviews under Section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005, signalling continued escalation against operators with AML and player-protection control failings.

The Justice Department seized about $52m in cryptocurrency tied to Southeast Asian romance and investment-scam money laundering on 10 September, while OFAC separately designated the Chinese-run Xinbi marketplace as a Transnational Criminal Organisation and identified numerous linked crypto wallets.

The Central Bank of Nigeria made terrorism-financing supervision a current priority on 8 September, covering risk management, transaction monitoring, sanctions implementation and suspicious-transaction reporting. This sits alongside continued rollout of the CBN Automated AML/CFT Standards ahead of the September 2027 DMB compliance deadline.

The UK Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation review signals a shift towards proactive enforcement, while the SEC Reg S-P deadline puts third-party risk under the microscope. RegTech Analyst urges 2027 budgets to fund connected compliance technology, warning that siloed tools are becoming a supervisory red flag.