Behrouz Parsarad, an Iranian nationwide behind the lately closed darknet platform Nemesis, has been sanctioned by US authorities.
In accordance with a March 4 assertion from the Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC), Parsarad created the Nemesis market in 2021, permitting unlawful commerce in medicine, faux paperwork, hacking instruments, and different legal providers.
Alongside Parsarad himself, the sanctions lengthen to a number of cryptocurrency accounts linked to him, particularly 44 Bitcoin
$85,868.09
and 5 Monero
$218.11
wallets.
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Chainalysis, a blockchain intelligence company, reported these wallets collectively acquired over $850,000 between July 2022 and March 2024. As a result of enhance in cryptocurrency values throughout this era, Parsarad’s whole transfers exceeded $1.6 million.
Most of Parsarad’s cryptocurrency transactions concerned Nemesis straight, though Chainalysis revealed that he additionally despatched about $12,000 to different darknet websites, together with ASAP Market, Subsequent Era, and Incognito Market.
Earlier than authorities from the US, Germany, and Lithuania seized Nemesis’s servers in March 2024, the platform hosted roughly 30,000 customers and round 1,000 lively sellers. OFAC described the location as having built-in options designed to facilitate cash laundering.
Bradley T. Smith, Performing Underneath Secretary for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence, said that Parsarad is actively trying to relaunch the Nemesis market.
Parsarad is accused not solely of working {the marketplace} but additionally of laundering digital foreign money transactions for criminals who used Nemesis. With the sanctions now in place, US people and companies are prohibited from partaking in any transactions with Parsarad or corporations majority-owned by him.
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