The Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast in August and coordinated the latest action with FINTRAC, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
1380079 BC LTD (aka Amin Exchange Vancouver aka Sarafi Amin) has a storefront operation on Marine Drive in North Vancouver, as does Nia Nations Currency Ltd. (aka Nia Exchange aka Nia Nations Currency Exchange aka Nia Nations Exchange). Nia also has locations on 13th Street West in North Vancouver and on West Hastings in downtown Vancouver.
“Digital asset addresses associated with Amin Exchange have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Shelbit,” said the U.S. Treasury announcement. “Amin Exchange has laundered millions of dollars in drug proceeds in Canada at locations in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Amin Exchange in Vancouver has laundered drug proceeds for [Ryan] Wedding. The company has received the proceeds in cash and transferred them into digital assets, which Wedding has directed to be sent abroad.”
Nia Nations “advertises digital asset exchange services and the ability to transfer money from Iran to Canada. Digital asset addresses associated with Nia Nations have transacted with addresses associated with the [Islamic Republic Guard Corps] and sanctioned Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, including Nobitex, Wallex, Ramzinex and Bitpin.”
Under the U.S. sanctions, “all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.”
Wedding was on the FBI’s most wanted list when he was arrested in January in Mexico City. He pleaded not guilty in California to murder and drug charges and is expected to go on trial in fall 2027.
MSBs must implement compliance programs and verify clients’ identities, as per the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.
The June 2022 final report of B.C.’s Cullen Commission into money laundering said: “It is widely recognized that there are significant money laundering vulnerabilities associated with MSBs. They are frequently associated with professional money launderers and informal value transfer systems.”
Less than a year later, the B.C. NDP government under David Eby passed the Money Services Business Act to require registration with the B.C. Financial Services Authority, background checks and filing of annual reports.
But the law was not put in force before the NDP lost the Oct. 24 election.