OFAC Targets 3 People, 9 Entities for Internet-Based Synthetic Drug Sales
In coordination with the Netherlands and the U.K., the Office of Foreign Assets Control on Nov. 9 sanctioned three individuals and nine entities for their connection to internet-based suppliers of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.
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The three people designated by OFAC supplied fentanyl, synthetic stimulants, cannabinoids and opioids to U.S. markets through internet sales and "a host of shell companies," the agency said in a Nov. 9 news release. Dutch nationals Alex Adrianus Martinus Peijnenburg and Martinus Pterus Henri De Koning started a drug trafficking enterprise on the darkweb, where they directly sold fentanyl analogues and other synthetic opioids to U.S. consumers. Despite their 2017 arrest, the two continued to engage in drug trafficking and generated millions of dollars in virtual currency through a synthetic drug sales website, therealrc.com, OFAC said. Proceeds were then laundered through at least two shell companies.
OFAC also sanctioned Matthew Simon Grimm, a U.K. national who owns Smokeyschemsite.com, an online marketplace "known to have sold Schedule I controlled substances to U.S. customers" via virtual currency, OFAC said.
“The Treasury Department will continue to deploy its counternarcotics authorities to disrupt those involved in the fentanyl global supply chain,” said Brian Nelson, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “Treasury is identifying over 50 virtual wallet addresses associated with this network’s drug trafficking activities as we take further action to counter the abuse of virtual currency. I would like to thank our Dutch and UK partners and U.S. law enforcement counterparts for their partnership and for enabling today’s action.”