The Department of Justice's National Security Division has
arrested a Dual U.S. and Iranian national for an unlawful scheme to
violate and evade U.S. Sanctions Against Iran.
Kambiz Eghbali, also known as Cameron Eghbali, 50, of Los Angeles,
was arrested yesterday pursuant to a now-unsealed indictment
charging him, along with Hamid Hajipour and Babak Bahizad, both
Iranian nationals, with violations of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and
conspiracy to commit money laundering. Bahizad and Hajipour remain
at large.
According to the indictment, from March 2014 through September
2019, Eghbali and others conspired to unlawfully send digital and
physical gift cards loaded with U.S. dollars to Iran. Eghbali would
list his company, a U.S.-based purported videogame wholesaler and
distributor located in the Central District of California, as the
seller of the gift cards, and would provide cards to Bahizad for
the benefit of his Iran-based gaming company, and to Hajipour for
the benefit of his mobile software application service company.
Bahizad and Hajipour would then pay Eghbali for the cards by
transferring money from Iran to Eghabli's U.S.-based bank
accounts using third parties in other countries to conceal the
transfer from U.S. regulators.
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