(Bloomberg) – The U.S. Treasury Department said today it is sanctioning Sambouk Shipping FZC for attempting to evade international restrictions on Iranian oil.
The company is tied to Greek businessman Dimitris Cambis, who along with a network of front companies, was previously sanctioned in March 14, the department said.
“In an attempt to continue his scheme, Dr. Cambis is using the recently formed Sambouk Shipping to manage eight of the vessels that he operates on behalf of the National Iranian Tanker Co.,” the Treasury said in an e-mailed statement. “These vessels have been used to execute ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in the Persian Gulf.”
“These transfers are intended to facilitate deceptive sales of Iranian oil by obscuring the origin of that oil,” according to the department.
David S. Cohen, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement that “as long as Iran tries to evade our sanctions, we will continue to expose their deceptive maneuvers.”
The Treasury Department also imposed sanctions against Iranian Venezuelan Bi-National Bank, “for engaging in financial transactions on behalf of the previously sanctioned Export Development Bank of Iran.”
