Dubai Regulator Investigates Shelbit Over $4 Billion in Crypto Flows Linked to Iran | Ukraine news

Dubai Regulator Investigates Shelbit Over $4 Billion in Crypto Flows Linked to Iran

Wednesday, 26 August 2026, 15:00

Behind a modest Dubai office, researchers found a sprawling financial network whose transactions continued despite regulatory warnings and regional attacks.

An illegal network of gambling websites and the Dubai-registered cryptocurrency exchange Shelbit may have been part of a large-scale scheme to evade sanctions against Iran. According to an analysis of blockchain transactions, at least $4 billion in cryptocurrency has passed through the platform since May 2024.

Shelbit’s office is located above a budget hotel in the Deira district. The exchange was founded by Iranian national Siavash Keyvanpour, and one of its main clients was a Persian-language network of more than 2,000 gambling websites. It was promoted by bloggers Sasha Sobhani and Pouyan Mokhtari, who showcased expensive cars, yachts, private jets, and a luxurious lifestyle on social media.

In 2023, Sobhani, Mokhtari, and Keyvanpour were convicted in absentia in Iran in a case involving illegal gambling operations. Gambling is banned in the Islamic Republic: the law provides for imprisonment and up to 74 lashes. Despite the ban, the website network had access to Iran’s domestic payment infrastructure, which is controlled by the country’s central bank.

A Cryptocurrency Hub for Overseas Transfers

According to an analysis of cryptocurrency flows, Shelbit interacted with the Central Bank of Iran, the Iranian exchange Nobitex, and wallets that Israeli authorities had linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Some of the funds came from a suspected Iranian bitcoin-mining operation.

Experts traced tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency flowing from the gambling network to Shelbit. One affiliated website alone transferred at least $130 million through the platform since the exchange began operating in May 2024.

Researchers estimate that Shelbit processed at least $125 million linked to the Central Bank of Iran. Another at least $20 million came through intermediary crypto wallets from a suspected mining network. Such intermediary addresses can make it more difficult to establish the true origin of assets.

This is an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operation, and that is absolutely clear.

Transfers to Shelbit continued in the lead-up to Iran’s war with the United States and Israel in February. Cryptocurrency continued to flow into the exchange’s wallets even after Iran carried out repeated strikes against the United Arab Emirates. One drone exploded less than a kilometer from the platform’s office at the time.

Researchers believe the scale and nature of the operations point to the involvement of Iranian state institutions. At the same time, it was not possible to establish whether the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had direct control over the gambling network and Shelbit, or where a substantial portion of the cryptocurrency ultimately went.

Dubai Authorities Investigate Shelbit

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, known as VARA, is investigating Shelbit’s possible role in money laundering and sanctions evasion. The regulator is also examining Keyvanpour and a broader network of Iranians linked to cryptocurrency operations and illegal gambling.

VARA confirmed that in 2025, together with Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, it took action against Shelbit for operating without a license. On July 24, the regulator issued a notice accusing the exchange of violating anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing laws and demanded that it immediately cease all unlicensed virtual asset activities.

The risks identified by VARA go beyond consumer protection and concern more serious cross-border operations capable of affecting the integrity of the United Arab Emirates’ financial system.

– Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority

Despite its multibillion-dollar turnover, Shelbit is effectively inaccessible to ordinary customers. Its website no longer works, and it is impossible to conduct transactions online. People at the company’s address in Deira said they had never heard of Shelbit and had no connection to cryptocurrency.

The office door bears a sign for Velorix Watches Trading, a company also registered to Keyvanpour. During a visit to the premises, 13 old watches, a cash-counting machine, and a desk were on display. Employees said the watches were not for sale, and one of them said he did not know Shelbit’s founder.

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Through Binance

Cryptocurrency data show that at least $676 million has been transferred from Shelbit addresses to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, since May 2024. About $540 million of that amount was transferred after VARA fined Shelbit for providing and advertising unlicensed exchange services.

Rich Sanders said he informed Binance about Shelbit’s possible ties to Iran as early as October 2025. However, transfers from the Dubai platform’s wallets to Binance continued afterward.

Binance said Shelbit had never held an account on the platform and was not subject to sanctions. At the same time, the company did not dispute that it had processed hundreds of millions of dollars linked to Shelbit, as the transactions were not considered high-risk.

When users associated with Shelbit interacted with our platform, our compliance program worked as intended: it conducted checks, froze the relevant accounts, and provided information to law enforcement agencies.

In 2023, the United States fined Binance $4.3 billion for violating anti-money-laundering rules. Among other things, the case involved the processing of cryptocurrency transactions linked to Iran. In December, the exchange obtained key regulatory licenses in the United Arab Emirates for its main trading platform.

How the Gambling Business Came Under the Control of Security Forces

Former Iranian official Reza Gheybi claims that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began taking control of online betting about ten years ago, when the sector was rapidly expanding. According to him, operating such a business required cooperation from the Central Bank of Iran, which controls bank cards, transfers, and the domestic electronic payment system.

Information about the Guard Corps tightening its control over gambling websites was confirmed by Hamid Nikou, who previously advised the organization on policy matters; Mohammad Hossein Torkaman, a former member of the unit protecting Iran’s supreme leader and his family; and two other Iranians familiar with the situation.

When financial enterprises become large and operate independently of the ruling system and security institutions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps begins to control them. Gambling websites were used as a way to connect financial systems inside and outside the country.

According to Gheybi, Nikou, and Torkaman, prominent performers and bloggers with audiences in the millions were recruited to promote the websites. Their ostentatious wealth attracted Iranians living amid economic decline, inflation, and limited access to international financial markets.

More than 60 Iranian influencers who advertised these gambling platforms have been identified. About half had more than one million followers, while the audiences of three exceeded 10 million people.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is part of Iran’s state system, tasked with protecting the Islamic Revolution and controlling commercial assets worth billions of dollars. Researchers believe that the use of cryptocurrencies, gambling websites, and mining allowed the organization to move capital around banking restrictions.

Sasha Sobhani and Pouyan Mokhtari

Sasha Sobhani, whose real name is Mohammad Javad, became one of the best-known faces in Iran’s online gambling scene. He has 3.7 million followers on Instagram, where he posts music and promotes gambling platforms. Sobhani is the son of a former Iranian ambassador and minister, who publicly distanced himself from his son’s behavior, calling it un-Islamic.

Sobhani showed off a multimillion-dollar villa in Madrid on social media that had previously belonged to a Real Madrid player. In a video widely shared on Instagram, he throws banknotes around a hotel room. In another post, his girlfriend crashes the pink Rolls-Royce she was given for her 18th birthday.

Mokhtari had an even larger Instagram audience before his account was blocked earlier this year. He then moved to Vatan, a predominantly Persian-language social network built around gambling content, which he says he created himself.

Mokhtari posted about expensive watches, supercars, and music videos, as well as content supporting the Islamic Republic. In one photograph, he met with former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. During a joint livestream between Mokhtari and another Iranian, Ahmad Khomeini, the grandson of Islamic Republic founder Ruhollah Khomeini, briefly joined the conversation.

Mokhtari also displayed a $3.5 million Koenigsegg Jesko Attack that was repainted from gold to bright pink.

Sobhani and Mokhtari had worked together since at least 2020. That year, they were held accountable in a case involving the launch of a network of illegal gambling websites, including abt90 and Hazarat. At the time, both were abroad, and three years later an Iranian court sentenced each of them in absentia to two years in prison. Keyvanpour received three months in prison for facilitating the activity.

Iran issued international Interpol alerts for Mokhtari and Sobhani. Both were detained in Spain, where they lived. According to Mokhtari, he spent more than a month in custody. The wanted notices were later canceled after being challenged by the individuals themselves.

There are no written rules in Iran regarding this field – online prediction markets, gambling, or whatever you want to call it. Essentially, it was not illegal.

However, Article 705 of Iran’s Criminal Code provides for penalties of up to six months in prison and 74 lashes for gambling. In 2023, the law was amended to explicitly include online betting.

Reza Gheybi believes that Iranian authorities’ crackdown on certain gambling networks may be aimed not at protecting the public, but at eliminating competitors. In March 2024, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence announced the dismantling of a “London mafia network” that operated 54 illegal Nitro Bet websites. However, the network promoted by Mokhtari and Sobhani, with around 2,000 sites, was far larger.

This is not about concern for people’s welfare or the fact that gambling is prohibited. It is about eliminating rivals.

Sobhani said his involvement in abt90 was limited to paid advertising on social media. He stressed that he was not an owner, shareholder, executive, employee, operator, or decision-maker for the platform, and that he did not know how gambling websites gained access to Iran’s payment systems.

I categorically deny any involvement in money laundering, sanctions evasion, terrorist financing, or moving money on behalf of the Iranian government, the Central Bank of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or any other Iranian state institution.

Mokhtari’s Arrest in Dubai and Departure for Iran

In late March, Dubai police detained Mokhtari on suspicion of financing Iranian terrorist groups that carried out hostile actions against the United Arab Emirates. According to people familiar with the matter, he spent 35 days in custody before being deported from the country.

During the deportation, Mokhtari reportedly lost assets in the United Arab Emirates, including money in bank accounts and a house worth $5 million. He denied the accusations and called them false.

After leaving Dubai, Mokhtari spent some time in a hotel overlooking Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, where a room cost around $2,000 per night. He wrote on social media that he had been detained after transferring $150,000 to friends in Iran.

Mokhtari also published a photograph of a 10-year United Arab Emirates “golden visa” issued in the name of Patrick Philippe, a citizen of Vanuatu. He said he had lived in the Emirates under a different name.

After two months in Hong Kong, Mokhtari began preparing to return to Iran. On July 8, he posted a photograph from Bangkok beside the stairs of a plane bound for Tehran.

God willing, in less than 24 hours I will be in Tehran. Please pray that I may be useful and worthy before Almighty God and the good people of this world.

After that post, Mokhtari made no further social media updates. The investigation into Shelbit and the possible use of cryptocurrency infrastructure by Iran to evade sanctions is ongoing.

You may be interested in these materials:

• London investigators link Shelbit’s Dubai office to a $4 billion crypto flow that helped Iran evade sanctions, exposing ties to gambling networks, influencers and the IRGC.
• Unlicensed Dubai crypto exchange Shelbit processed at least $4 billion and may have helped Iranian gambling networks move funds around sanctions, according to blockchain analysts.
• Ukraine’s Prosecutor General says a Lviv resident who ran a public fundraiser for spinal muscular atrophy is suspected of laundering donations via crypto, with investigators tracing over 162.5 million UAH and identifying 96 victims.

Source: mezha.net