OTTAWA – The United States Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on eight Canadian businesses, accusing them of aiding in the evasion of sanctions against the Iranian government. The affected businesses, primarily located in British Columbia and Ontario, are said to be involved in money services operations.

The Treasury Department's actions were coordinated with Fintrac, Canada's anti-money laundering agency. Among the sanctioned entities are the Million Exchange, NIA Nations Currency, Farah Exchange, Darvish Exchange, along with several numbered companies. The U.S. Treasury alleges that some of these businesses collaborated with Ryan Wedding, an alleged drug kingpin and former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, who has been connected to significant money laundering activities.

According to the U.S. authorities, Wedding utilized these money services to launder millions of dollars derived from drug trafficking through digital asset transfers. His arrest took place in January 2023. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remarked, “Canada cannot be a safe haven for illicit financial facilitators that provide sanctions-evasion services to the Iranian regime and its proxies,” emphasizing the U.S. commitment to disrupting the Iranian regime’s financial networks globally.

This move marks the latest in a series of U.S. efforts to intensify financial restrictions aimed at undermining transactions that violate sanctions, amid ongoing tensions with Iran. Wedding's legal troubles are significant; after being apprehended in Mexico, he has been extradited to the U.S. facing charges including drug trafficking, murder, and attempted murder. Wedding currently remains in federal custody and is scheduled for two trials, set for March and October of the upcoming year.

The recent developments also include the arrest of a Mexican judge, who is accused of taking a $2 million bribe to grant bail to Andrew Clark, a Canadian allegedly involved as Wedding’s second-in-command in a violent international drug trafficking network. Wedding reportedly orchestrated multiple murders, including that of a potential witness against him in a narcotics case set for trial in 2024.

U.S. officials have indicated that Wedding eluded law enforcement for several years prior to his capture. Notably, he represented Canada in the men’s snowboarding slalom during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Law enforcement in both Canada and the U.S. suggest that following his Olympic participation, Wedding became significantly entrenched in drug trafficking.

In 2010, Wedding was convicted in the U.S. for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and subsequently sentenced to prison. U.S. authorities claim that after his release, he resumed his drug trafficking activities with the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Documentation from U.S. courts indicates that Wedding's drug trafficking organization smuggled cocaine from Colombia into Mexico before redistributing it throughout both the United States and Canada via semi-trucks.

A year prior to this sanction announcement, eight individuals were arrested in Canada as part of the U.S. investigation into Wedding and his criminal activities.