The United States is intensifying its crackdown on crypto-linked financial crime by targeting the corporate and exchange infrastructure that moves funds, rather than just blacklisting individual wallet addresses. On November 5, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned four individuals and 41 entities allegedly supporting the Prince Group transnational criminal organization, alongside a Malaysian individual accused of managing a separate scam network based in Madagascar.
Treasury alleges that these designations target the offshore companies, nominee ownership structures and payment facilitators used to keep Prince Group-linked networks operating after earlier sanctions in 2025 and 2026. The department describes schemes involving digital asset investment fraud, romance scams and other online deception, with some operations linked to Southeast Asian compounds and people coerced or trafficked into carrying out fraud. Victims are often persuaded to transfer funds through banks or payment apps before the money reaches exchanges and wallets, which means investigators must combine blockchain tracing with corporate records and beneficial ownership checks.
On November 6, OFAC sanctioned eight money services businesses in Ontario and British Columbia that it says exchanged Iranian rials and cash for cryptocurrency on behalf of sanctioned Iranian exchanges and wallets tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Several of the same firms allegedly laundered cocaine proceeds for Ryan Wedding, the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder accused of running a transnational trafficking network. The designations are part of Operation Economic Outcast, the Iran campaign launched in August.
The entities traded under brands including Amin Exchange, Cryptoyal, C Exchange, Million Exchange, NIA Exchange, Farah Exchange and Darvish Exchange/Canada Exchange. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Canada cannot be a safe haven for firms selling sanctions evasion services to Iran. Chainalysis later traced more than $6.8 million sent to the Wedding network and over $2.5 million to other cartel-linked laundering wallets. Inflows included more than $6 million from sanctioned jurisdictions, $3.7 million from sanctioned entities and $2.3 million from wallets linked to terrorist financing, with some counterparties attributed to the IRGC, Hamas and the Houthis. The OFAC notice lists six Tron addresses, and the drug network reportedly converted street cash into USDT specifically.
On the same day, FinCEN moved separately against MEXC Global, alleging the exchange processed at least $16 billion in illicit transactions over five years. MEXC said it is reviewing the order, and the ban on transfers takes effect 30 days after the order appears in the Federal Register. FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence agency, revoked 82 money services business registrations in fiscal 2025-26 and fined nine firms more than C$198 million.
The broader enforcement message is that crypto-enabled scams and sanctions evasion rely on real-world corporate structures, and U.S. agencies are increasingly coordinating with partners such as the British Virgin Islands, the UK and Canada to disrupt them.
