An Iranian man has been arrested on charges that he evaded U.S. economic sanctions against Iran by sending more than $115 million from Venezuela through U.S. banks, AP reports.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad (Chairman of Pilatus Bank) created front companies and foreign bank accounts to mask his dealings with Iranian businesses in Venezuela.
His lawyer did not immediately comment, AP said.
Prosecutors say Sadr's money transfers to evade sanctions were made between April 2011 and November 2013. They say the money for a Venezuelan housing complex was illegally funneled through the U.S. financial system to benefit Iranian individuals and entities, AP reports.
According to Reuters, Prosecutors said that Sadr's family controlled an Iranian conglomerate called Stratus Group, which which had international business operations leading to the construction, in Venezuela, of thousands of housing units They report that the project stemmed from Iran-Venezuela agreements dating back to 2004 and 2005, with regards to cooperation in the construction of housing units in Venezuela.
Reuters said that according to the indictment, an Iranian company called Iranian International Housing Corporation, incorporated by Stratus, entered into a $476 million deal in 2006 to construct 7,000 housing units with a Venezuelan state-owned energy company
The report continued that Sadr belonged to a committee which oversaw the execution of the project.
Prosecutors said, according to Reuters, that Sadr took steps to evade US economic sanctions, as part of the project, by concealing Iran's role and the role of Iranian parties, in payments made through the US banking system, Reuters continued.
"As alleged, Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad created a network of front companies and foreign bank accounts to mask Iranian business dealings in Venezuela and evade U.S. sanctions," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.
The 38-year-old Sadr was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate sanctions, among other charges, AP said.
If convicted, Sadr could face a sentence of up to 125 years in prison, AP said.
Locally, the bank has been at the centre of scandal, having threatened a number of Maltese media houses with strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) lawsuits. The bank is also involved in inquiries by the courts.
Pilatus Bank was also in litigation with the Maltese journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered last October, over a number of articles she wrote about the bank and the Chairman
EU MEPs have also recently expressed concerns about the bank on separate issues, stating that "there is a growing body of leaked evidence from Maltese authorities and first-hand testimony that place Pilatus Bank at the centre of illicit financial flows from Malta's citizenship-by-investment scheme, the sale of state assets, and unexplained inflows from high-risk jurisdictions like Azerbaijan to Maltese politically exposed figures".
Just yesterday, Maria Efimova, a former employee of Pilatus Bank who was behind allegations that the Panama company Egrant was owned by the Prime Minister's wife, Michelle Muscat, turned herself over to the Greek authorities
Indictment in full
US Attorney Office statement on arrest