Millions forfeited by company linked to suspected money laundering and sanctions evasion

Editor’s note: The NCA page returned an access error when retrieved. This entry was compiled from secondary reporting of the same announcement and should be checked against the NCA original before publication.

The National Crime Agency has secured the forfeiture of £3.84 million (around $5.2 million) from ENEX Premium Trading Limited, an agricultural trading company registered in St Kitts and Nevis, following a civil recovery investigation into suspected money laundering and sanctions evasion.

The company is owned by Nadir Valiyev, an Azerbaijani national. The NCA announced the outcome on 27 August 2026.

How the money moved

NCA officers traced funds held in Chinese bank accounts in the company’s name that had received payments from suspected front companies between July and September 2024. The money was then transferred into accounts held with UK electronic money institutions and routed towards cryptocurrency conversion, moving across four jurisdictions: China, the UK, the UAE and St Kitts and Nevis.

Several of the companies that paid money into the ENEX accounts in China were subsequently designated by the US Treasury for facilitating illicit Iranian oil sales and channelling the revenue to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force.

The legal route

The funds were frozen under an account freezing order obtained in November 2024 and the matter was resolved by a settlement under the civil recovery provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. No criminal charges were brought and there has been no criminal conviction; civil recovery allows law enforcement to target property suspected of deriving from unlawful conduct to the civil standard of proof.

The head of the NCA’s Combatting Kleptocracy Cell said officers had worked diligently to track the source of the funds, uncovering evidence that payments made into ENEX’s accounts had been made by US-sanctioned companies.

Why it matters for firms

The case is a reminder that UK electronic money institutions and payment firms sit in the path of sanctions evasion typologies that begin well outside the UK, and that adverse media and third-country designations against counterparties of a customer’s counterparties can be the first visible signal of exposure.

Article Credit: https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/millions-forfeited-by-company-linked-to-suspected-money-laundering-and-sanctions-evasion