Behrouz Parsarad is an Iranian who was sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control for allegedly having full control of the darknet market and cryptocurrency wallets.
US, German, and Lithuanian officials seize Nemesis’s servers in march 2024. But OFAC reports the Iran-based Parsarad has since talked about establishing a new marketplace with its former vendors.
Parsarad, according to OFAC took a portion of each transaction made on Nemesis. This allowed the company to sell almost $30,000,000 in narcotics from 2021 until its closure in 2024.
The company reported that it had over 30,000 users, 1,000 sellers, and was sold worldwide, even to people in the United States.
“As the administrator of the Nemesis darknet marketplace, Parsarad sought to build—and continues to try to re-establish—a safe haven to facilitate the production, sale, and shipment of illegal narcotics like fentanyl and other synthetic opioids,” Bradley T. Smith, Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Parsarad’s sanctioning includes a designation for 44 Bitcoin Adresses 5 Monero Chainalysis research shows that BTC addresses identified by OFAC received about $850,000.
When the Nemesis Operator sent his Bitcoin to three central exchanges to sell his Bitcoins and Monero, the Bitcoin value had risen to $1.6 Million.
Nemesis “a major darknet marketplace” He told Ari Redbord. He said Decrypt It was also used for the sale of other drugs besides fentanyl.
“Nemesis also facilitated the sale of false identification documents and hacking tools, enabling cybercriminals to hijack victims' online accounts and communications,” “He said” “Importantly, TRM was able to uncover directly on chain-links between Nemesis and Chinese drug precursor manufacturers with funds being sent directly from Nemesis vendors to Chinese DPMs.”
Nemesis is a darknet marketplace that was popular internationally. However, its Russia counterparts were much bigger.
“There were way bigger players: In comparison, Hydra Market, a Russian-language darknet marketplace operational from 2015 until its shutdown in April 2022, had 17 million users and 19,000 sellers, with an estimated lifetime revenue of $5 billion,” Redboard.
Behrouz parsarad, who was a senior advisor for the US Treasury’s Undersecretary and Deputy Secretaries of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, has been designated at a moment when OFAC and government agencies around the world are intensifying their efforts to combat crypto-related crimes.
“Europol, Germany’s BKA, and the UK’s NCA have also stepped up enforcement, coordinating takedowns of Hydra Market in 2022, Monopoly Market in 2023, and Nemesis in 2024,” “He said”
In the past two weeks, the EU has joined the UK and US to impose sanctions on the Russian exchange Garantex. This helped Russians avoid the sanctions that were imposed after the start of the Russia/Ukraine War in February 2022.
In part, the increase of actions in the past year or so is due to the fact that law enforcement has become better at using Blockchain technology.
Redboard says “Enhanced blockchain intelligence, international cooperation, and aggressive sanctioning have made these agencies more effective in detecting, disrupting, and dismantling illicit cryptocurrency-fueled ecosystems.”
It’s clear, however, that despite progress in the darknet market, there is still more to do. Revenues in 2024 actually increased from $1.6 million to $1.7 millions.
Stacy Elliott is the editor.