The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) just dropped the hammer on 49 cryptocurrency addresses linked to Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad. Forty-four Bitcoin and five Monero addresses made the government’s naughty list as part of a sweeping international law enforcement operation in 2024. Parsarad wasn’t just your average crypto enthusiast—he allegedly ran the Nemesis darknet marketplace, a digital bazaar that facilitated nearly $30 million in drug sales over three years. Talk about a side hustle gone wrong.
Nemesis was no small-time operation. The marketplace boasted 30,000 active users before authorities pulled the plug. It offered everything from narcotics to stolen personal data, forged documents, and ransomware. Need phishing tools or DDoS services? Nemesis had you covered.
Parsarad, based in Tehran, reportedly collected transaction fees on all this illicit activity, raking in millions while providing built-in money laundering features. How thoughtful.
While charging commission on drug deals, Parsarad thoughtfully included money laundering as a convenience feature. Customer service at its finest.
Blockchain analysis revealed Parsarad’s extensive criminal network. He funneled over $12,000 to other darknet marketplaces and received more than $850,000 from addresses linked to illicit transactions. The tech-savvy administrator moved approximately $1.6 million in cryptocurrency, cleverly riding price fluctuations to maximize profits. Unlike legitimate DeFi protocols, Parsarad used crypto mixers and other obfuscation techniques to cover his tracks. Didn’t work out so well.
The sanctions mean all of Parsarad’s U.S. property and interests are now blocked. He’s also cut off from specific financial services. These measures follow the 2022 takedown of Hydra Market—the largest darknet marketplace bust since Silk Road—and align with broader efforts to combat the fentanyl trade. The criminal marketplace had been in active operation for three years before authorities finally shut it down. Analysts believe these actions will lead to increased regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide.
This crackdown highlights the increasing scrutiny of privacy coins like Monero and signals to crypto exchanges that robust anti-money laundering measures aren’t optional. The message from Treasury is crystal clear: the anonymity of cryptocurrency isn’t as bulletproof as some criminals think. Authorities are getting better at following the digital money trail. No matter how clever the concealment.
