US Sanctions Iranian Operator of Nemesis Darknet Marketplace

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned Nemesis operator Behrouz Parsarad, an Iranian national who allegedly had full control over the darknet marketplace and its cryptocurrency wallets.

U.S., German and Lithuanian officials seized Nemesis’s servers in March 2024, but OFAC reports that the Iran-based Parsarad had since discussed establishing a replacement for the marketplace with some of its former vendors.

According to OFAC, Parsarad took a percentage of every transaction on Nemesis, which enabled the sale of almost $30 million in narcotics between 2021 and its closure in March 2024.

It reportedly had more than 30,000 active users and 1,000 vendors, and sold internationally, including to individuals 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,” said Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith.

The sanctioning of Parsarad includes the designation of 44 Bitcoin addresses and 5 Monero addresses, with research from Chainalysis revealing that the BTC wallets identified by OFAC received around $850,000.

Yet the value of his Bitcoin rose to $1.6 million by the time the Nemesis operator sent it elsewhere, including to three centralized exchanges he used to cash out his Bitcoin and Monero.

Nemesis was “a major darknet marketplace” said Ari Redbord, the global head of policy at blockchain intelligence platform TRM Labs. He told Decrypt that it was used to sell more than 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.”

While Nemesis was a significant darknet marketplace internationally, it wasn’t quite as big as some of its Russia-based counterparts.

“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 said.

According to him, a former senior advisor to the Deputy Secretary and the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the US Treasury, the designation of Behrouz Parsarad comes at a time when OFAC and other government agencies internationally have been ramping up their policing of crypto-related crime.

“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.

The past fortnight has also seen the EU join the UK and US in placing sanctions on Russian exchange Garantex, which has helped Russians evade the sanctions imposed following the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022.

And part of the reason why actions have seemingly increased in the past one or two years is that enforcement agencies have become more adept at using blockchain technology to their advantage.

As 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.”

Despite progress, it’s also clear that more work needs to be done when it comes to darknet marketplaces, which actually saw an increase in revenue in 2024, from $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.