A sprawling Iranian online gambling network has been channeling millions of dollars in cryptocurrency through a Dubai-based exchange allegedly linked to Iran’s state financial system, helping facilitate a sanctions-evasion operation that has processed at least $4 billion since May 2024, according to blockchain data reviewed by Reuters.
The exchange, Shelbit, is operated by Iranian expatriate Siavash Kayvanpour and is registered at an unremarkable office in Dubai. Investigators say it has processed funds for a Farsi-language gambling network comprising more than 2,000 websites, as well as Iran’s central bank, sanctioned entities and suspected Iranian bitcoin-mining operations.
The gambling network is promoted by Iranian influencers Sasha Sobhani and Pooyan Mokhtari, who have built lavish public personas around luxury cars, private jets and expensive properties. Both men were convicted in absentia in Iran in 2023 over an illegal gambling case and deny any involvement in money laundering, sanctions evasion or Iranian state operations. Blockchain investigators identified at least $125 million transferred from Iran’s central bank to Shelbit, while at least $676 million subsequently moved from Shelbit-linked addresses to Binance. Shelbit also received at least $20 million from suspected Iranian mining operations. Binance said transactions associated with Shelbit were not considered high risk, while noting that its compliance systems had frozen and reported certain related accounts.
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has taken enforcement action against Shelbit for operating without a licence and alleged violations of money-laundering and terrorism-financing laws. A person familiar with the matter said VARA is also investigating the exchange’s alleged role in sanctions evasion. Reuters could not establish whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directly controlled Shelbit or the gambling network. Former Iranian officials and security insiders, however, said the IRGC has increasingly used illegal gambling and informal financial networks to extend its control over Iran’s economy and move money beyond the reach of international sanctions.