Is ignorance a valid excuse for bypassing international sanctions and assisting one of the most corrupt regimes in the world? Ebury employees sure believe so.
'Ebury Partners UK Limited' is a financial services company headquartered in the UK, with over 1600 employees in 21 countries around the world. The company was founded in the UK in 2009 by Juan Lobato, who also serves as company CEO, and Salvador Garcia. The company is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI).
Ebury is considered one of the fastest growing fintech companies in Europe, with revenues of over $100 million a year. The company offers an online payment platform for companies and institutions, as well as money transfer services in over 130 currencies. It is estimated that approximately 1 million payments made by over 50,000 clients are processed by Ebury annually., how many of those payments were made by Iranian front companies? Let's find out.
The WikIran databases contain proof Ebury had facilitated transactions for front companies belonging to Iranian exchange houses and leading Iranian exporters, all of whom are believed to be part of the Iranian sanctions circumvention mechanism.
The following exclusive and authentic documents, some of which have never been revealed before, are just a few pieces of evidence of Ebury's financial misconduct or at the very least, lack of proper due diligence and compliance processes. The company's actions raise serious questions about the need for greater scrutiny of companies that operate in the global financial sector.
Seen below is a transaction made to the Omani bank account of Dark Blue Shipping, a front company of sanctioned Iranian entity Safiran Airport Services:
The Zarrin Ghalam Exchange House Database
The Zarrin Ghalam database include multiple example of transactions made between front companies used by Berilian exchange house, owned by Nasser Zarrin Ghalam and part of the Zarrin Ghalam Group.
For example, a transaction made by Cypriot front company Ventureout Holding Limited to a Chinese front company Binrin Limited:
Another transaction was made by a different Cypriot front company ‘Dynamix Trading Limited’ to another Chinese front company named ‘Zunin Limited’:
Finally, our exclusive article (link) "Iranian Banks Utilize Front Companies to Bypass Sanctions against Iran's Steel Industry" from August 2022 lists all the front companies that were found in the KSC & MSC leaked databases. As can be seen in the UAE tab, a KSC front company named Ruby Global Trading FZE from the United Arab Emirates made a transaction using Ebury Partners UK Limited.