An alleged Iranian plot to murder former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton involved the promise of as much as $1.3 million in crypto payments, the Department of Justice said in a statement Wednesday.
Court documents unsealed Aug. 10 allege that Shahram Poursafi, a Tehran-based member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard offered as much as $300,000 to assassinate Bolton, and $1 million for a further, unspecified job, with the transfer apparently set to be made via digital currency.
According to those documents, Poursafi in late 2021 and early 2022 made contact with a U.S. intermediary via encrypted messaging and instructed the would-be assassin to open a crypto wallet, to which small payments were then made as proof of concept.
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The move comes as authorities attempt to clamp down on the use of crypto to launder the proceeds of crime, using a controversial means of identifying payers known as the travel rule. Indeed, the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this week blocked access to Tornado Cash, arguing that the privacy-focused mixing service was linked to sanctions-busting and North Korean hackers.
Poursafi, who remains at large abroad, faces up to 25 years in jail and $500,000 in fines if convicted. A spokesperson for Poursafi could not be reached for comment.