The U.S. Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) has introduced sanctions towards Behrouz Parsarad for operating Nemesis, a darknet market that offered unlawful medication.
As a part of these actions, OFAC has additionally blacklisted 49 crypto addresses, together with 44 for Bitcoin and 5 for Monero, related to the operation.
Founder Accused of Laundering Hundreds of thousands
“Because the administrator of the Nemesis darknet market, Parsarad sought to construct—and continues to attempt to re-establish—a secure haven to facilitate the manufacturing, sale, and cargo of unlawful narcotics like fentanyl and different artificial opioids,” mentioned Performing Beneath Secretary for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.
In keeping with a press launch, the Iranian nationwide created and managed Nemesis, managing its crypto wallets and gathering charges from each transaction. Authorities estimate he made tens of millions of {dollars} from these charges. He additionally helped criminals launder cash by transferring the digital belongings of drug traffickers and cybercriminals utilizing the platform.
Launched in 2021, Nemesis was a hub for criminality on the darknet. Earlier than authorities dismantled it in 2024, drug sellers and laptop criminals used the platform to commerce unlawful substances, akin to fentanyl, receive pretend identification paperwork, and purchase hacking providers. The positioning was additionally designed with mechanisms to cover monetary transactions, facilitating cash laundering.
At its peak, Nemesis had over 30,000 energetic customers and 1,000 distributors. For 3 years, the platform enabled the sale of medicine value almost $30 million worldwide, together with transactions affecting the US.
Nemesis’ Takedown
On March 20, 2024, a coordinated legislation enforcement effort by the US, Germany, and Lithuania led to the seizure of the location’s servers. As a part of the operation, authorities confiscated about $102,000 in crypto belongings related to it.
Following the shutdown, Parsarad has reportedly been discussing with former distributors the creation of a brand new unlawful website to switch Nemesis.
The U.S. Treasury has cracked down on a number of comparable operations, akin to Genesis Market in April 2023 and Hydra in April 2022. Nonetheless, darknet marketplaces proceed to thrive. In keeping with TRM Labs’ 2025 Crypto Crime Report, these platforms revamped $1.7 billion in income in 2024, barely greater than the earlier yr.
The report additionally discovered that Russian-language initiatives dominated the trade, making up over 97% of drug gross sales utilizing primarily Bitcoin and Tron’s TRX. This was a rise of greater than 1% from 2023, displaying their continued progress within the unlawful on-line financial system.
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