The United States Treasury Department sanctioned a prominent Greek businessman Thursday for his efforts to help Iran evade Western economic sanctions.
Dimitris Cambis, a Greek shipping magnate, was sanctioned by the department for using "Iranian funds to purchase oil tankers and disguised the Iranian origin of oil transported on these vessels," according to an announcement on the department’s website.
Treasury will take "concurrent action" against Cambis and his companies under multiple Iran sanctions acts passed by the U.S. government.
"Today we are lifting the veil on an intricate Iranian scheme that was designed to evade international oil sanctions," Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said in a statement. "We will continue to expose deceptive Iranian practices, and to sanction those individuals and entities who participate in these schemes."
Cambis is the president of Impire Shipping Company. He stands accused of purchasing "oil tankers while disguising the fact that the tankers were being purchased on behalf of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC)," according to the Treasury Department.
Cambis allegedly went to great lengths to hide the fact that he was transporting Iranian crude oil, according to Treasury:
These front companies were used to obscure the fact that these vessels, which are capable of carrying roughly 200 million dollars worth of oil per shipment, are the property of the Iranian government. Another front company, Libra Shipping, operates the vessels Cambis and Impire purchased on behalf of NITC with the aim of loading them with Iranian oil supplied by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). These operations are conducted through a series of ship-to-ship transfers in an attempt to mask the fact that the true origin of the oil is from Iran and to introduce it into the global market as if it were non-Iranian oil.
Additionally, Cambis is accused of buying eight tanker ships on behalf of Iran’s national oil company.
Americans are now prohibited from doing any business with Cambis or his sanctioned company’s following Treasury’s announcement.