US probes Wall Street banks over transactions tied to Iran’s supreme leader

The US Justice Department (DOJ) is conducting a probe into how Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei built a sprawling global investment portfolio with exposure to Wall Street banks, according to four officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

The move stems from a broad examination into allegations of money laundering and corruption.

As part of that, investigators have begun looking at the possible involvement of American financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, in facilitating large money movements between firms overseen by Khamenei, three of the people said.

The DOJ’s probe is examining those transactions, including the role of US correspondent banks, three of the people said. All the officials declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

Investigators want to understand the Supreme Leader’s network and identify any potential gaps that may exist in due-diligence procedures for American institutions that could have allowed such financial flows in the first place, they said.

The existence of the probe does not mean any charges will be filed. Its main target is Khamenei, who became the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader in March after his father was killed in a US-Israel airstrike at the start of the Iran war.

European and Middle Eastern lenders have drawn scrutiny in the probe, three of the people said. The DOJ is also studying property-related payments made by the network to global brands, including Hilton Worldwide Holdings, according to one of the officials with direct knowledge of the matter.

JPMorgan and Citi declined to comment as did a representative for the DOJ. Khamenei – who has not been seen publicly since taking office as Supreme Leader – did not return messages sent to him via Iran’s embassies in the United Arab Emirates and Britain as well as the country’s mission to the United Nations.

Bloomberg News in January revealed how Khamenei, who was sanctioned by the US in 2019 over his work for the government in Tehran, amassed a sprawling business empire ranging from Persian Gulf shipping to Swiss bank accounts and British luxury property.

Funds for the transactions have been routed through financial institutions in Britain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the UAE.

The DOJ investigation became more diplomatically sensitive as Washington and Tehran edged closer to an interim peace deal, particularly given Khamenei’s own role in the decision-making process surrounding the agreement, three of the people said.

The deal, to end the war and open talks on longstanding grievances including Iran’s nuclear programme, was signed on June 17.

Before becoming the country’s Supreme Leader, Khamenei relied heavily on financier Ali Ansari, whose fast-growing banking, construction and trading interests served as a conduit in recent years for shifting funds abroad, according to the Bloomberg report.

A web of shell companies, many run by Ansari, were then used to acquire luxury homes and five-star hotels across Europe, including several currently operated by Hilton.

Molly Moeser, the head of the DOJ’s money laundering, narcotics and forfeiture section, warned in May that Tehran was actively seeking access to the US financial system.

“The efforts collectively of the government over the last 10 years have really driven Iran out of legitimate financial institutions,” Moeser told a legal industry conference in New York.

But “because the US dollar is still the most stable currency and the currency everybody wants to make payments in, Iran looks for every opportunity to use shell companies, use shadow structures to still get access to the US dollar.”

Ansari was sanctioned by British authorities in October 2025, accused of “financially supporting” the activities of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – a powerful branch of the military, which plays a major role in the running of the country’s economy.

Through his lawyer, Ansari has previously denied any relationship with Khamenei and said he would appeal against the British measures.

On paper, ownership of several entities in the Khamenei property empire has shifted in recent months with Ansari’s name substituted for that of others close to him, according to one of the people, who said the moves raised questions about whether it was more an effort to conceal ownership rather than any genuine shift in control.

Hilton launched an internal investigation after the Bloomberg report to assess whether maintaining the business relationships associated with two German hotels – the Hilton Frankfurt City Centre and the Hilton Frankfurt Gravenbruch – could expose it to sanctions risks.

External advisers warned of regulatory and reputational concerns if it sustained ties with those firms, two US officials and another person with direct knowledge of the Hilton deliberations said.

Hilton declined to comment for this article.

Some of the DOJ’s latest Iran actions have built on information gleaned from past Treasury Department sanctions designations involving wealthy Iranians with large financial footprints in the UAE.

The process of mapping out those financial networks and payment chains can then lead DOJ investigators, at times, to US correspondent banking relationships.

While clients with meaningful exposure to Iran could trigger enhanced due-diligence processes, sanctioned individuals can sidestep this by obscuring ownership through the use of individuals to front businesses, shell companies and third-country intermediaries.

DOJ investigations, which can often last for several years, stretch from initial research and disclosure to possible prosecution. It is not clear what stage the Khamenei investigation has reached.

The Justice Department’s efforts coincided with a broader initiative by the Trump administration, dubbed “Operation Economic Fury”, to exert greater pressure on Tehran.

Of particular interest to Washington are networks overseen by Iran’s ruling elite, including Khamenei and Hossein Shamkhani, the son of a former top adviser to the late Supreme Leader.

Khamenei and Shamkhani both have used networks of proxies, shell companies and law firms to obscure their corporate relationships, Bloomberg has reported. They have also exploited citizenship-by-investment programmes to distance those entities from Iran.

In March, the DOJ filed civil forfeiture complaints related to Shamkhani’s web of firms. BLOOMBERG