On Wednesday, Nov. 28, the Treasury Department's Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it was adding two
residents of Iran – Ali Khorashadizadeh and Mohammad
Ghorbaniyan – to its Specially Designated Nationals List. In
addition to the usual identifying information such as physical
addresses, email addresses and aliases, for the first time in the
list's history, OFAC included bitcoin addresses associated with
the listed individuals. Khorashadizadeh and Ghorbaniyan are being
added to the list for their role in facilitating financial
transactions related to the SamSam ransomware, which has hit more
than 200 victims over the past few years. SamSam held the data of
its victims – including corporations, hospitals, ports,
universities and government agencies – hostage in exchange
for bitcoin, according to the Treasury, and then laundered the
money through online exchanges.
