Babak Zanjani is an Iranian billionaire and business magnate who has lived several lives.
In the 2000s, Zanjani founded the Sorinet Group of companies, which spanned Iran, Malaysia, Tajikistan, Türkiye and the UAE and which the West later alleged that he used to facilitate oil sales for the Iranian government. In 2013, Iran imprisoned him on corruption charges for alleged embezzlement, then sentenced him to death—only to commute that sentence in 2024.
Since his April 2025 release, Kharon research shows, Zanjani has rapidly built a new business empire with new international reach, expanding into rail, crypto trading, ride-sharing, cellphones, gold and printing.
He also, the U.S. and U.K. say, returned to facilitating the Iranian regime. Both countries, in their latest Iran-related sanctions blasts and the Zanjani saga’s latest turn, have now re-designated him in the past week.
“Freed from imprisonment in order to launder money for the regime,” Treasury wrote, “Zanjani has provided financial backing for major projects that support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian regime more broadly.”
But neither designation referenced the breadth of Zanjani’s new network.
In the 2000s, Zanjani founded the Sorinet Group of companies, which spanned Iran, Malaysia, Tajikistan, Türkiye and the UAE and which the West later alleged that he used to facilitate oil sales for the Iranian government. In 2013, Iran imprisoned him on corruption charges for alleged embezzlement, then sentenced him to death—only to commute that sentence in 2024.
Since his April 2025 release, Kharon research shows, Zanjani has rapidly built a new business empire with new international reach, expanding into rail, crypto trading, ride-sharing, cellphones, gold and printing.
He also, the U.S. and U.K. say, returned to facilitating the Iranian regime. Both countries, in their latest Iran-related sanctions blasts and the Zanjani saga’s latest turn, have now re-designated him in the past week.
Inside the sanctions
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Zanjani along with two U.K.-registered, Zanjani-linked cryptocurrency exchanges, Zedxion Exchange and Zedcex Exchange.“Freed from imprisonment in order to launder money for the regime,” Treasury wrote, “Zanjani has provided financial backing for major projects that support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian regime more broadly.”
- The designation followed a TRM Labs report that the two exchanges had processed close to $1 billion USD in “funds linked to the IRGC.”
- Zanjani had called those claims “entirely false, fabricated, and without any factual or evidentiary basis.”
But neither designation referenced the breadth of Zanjani’s new network.
A DotOne group Instagram account, advertising its subsidiary DotOne Trip, posted in August that “Toyota BZ3X taxis have arrived in Dubai!”
His portfolio
Zanjani is the self-described founder and “head” of Avan International Financial and Economic Development Group, also called DotOne Group. Based in Iran and established in November 2024, it has not been targeted with sanctions.According to its website, DotOne Group has come to own numerous subsidiaries in Iran since. These include:
- DotOne Rail, which, according to its website, signed a memorandum of understanding in April 2025—the month of Zanjani’s release—to provide 2,000 rail cars to state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railways. The site said the deal was worth 64 trillion tomans (approximately $750 million USD).
- DotOne Logistics, which announced the same month that it had purchased 25 Daewoo trucks from a company that claims to be the “official representative of Daewoo Trucks of South Korea” in Iran.
- the ride-share company DotOne Trip, which touted on Instagram last year that it had imported a fleet of Toyota EVs through Dubai.
- a cryptocurrency trading platform called BitBank, whose website says it is “under maintenance” and to “refrain from trading until further notice.” Zanjani, however, has advertised BitBank on his own Instagram page; some BitBank ads show a Zedxion Exchange interface in the background, suggesting a connection to the newly sanctioned entity.
Meanwhile, Sorinet Group, Zanjani’s former jewel, now traces its ultimate beneficial ownership to the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, according to corporate financial disclosures.
According to U.K. Companies House records, Zedxion Exchange and Zedcex Exchange are registered at the same London service address that dozens of other parties—including half a dozen other sanctioned actors—have used. Among them are two companies with similar names to Zanjani firms: Dot One Group Ltd, established in April 2025, and Bitbankers Investment Ltd, which was incorporated in May 2024 with 1 billion pounds sterling in paid-up capital.
He posted again the day the U.S. sanctioned him, calling its accusations “nothing but a pretext to seize” $660 million USD in crypto funds and criticizing Iranian officials “aligned with the enemy” for contributing to the “pressure” on his businesses, too.
The sanctions were “proof,” Zanjani said, “of how effective our economic activities in the country have been.”
John Krzyzaniak and Jake Miller contributed research to this report.
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Connecting the dots
The two Zed exchanges offer final links in the U.K. and Middle East that are less overt.According to U.K. Companies House records, Zedxion Exchange and Zedcex Exchange are registered at the same London service address that dozens of other parties—including half a dozen other sanctioned actors—have used. Among them are two companies with similar names to Zanjani firms: Dot One Group Ltd, established in April 2025, and Bitbankers Investment Ltd, which was incorporated in May 2024 with 1 billion pounds sterling in paid-up capital.
- Companies House records show that both companies are owned by a Tajik national named Fakhriddin Amonov. Until recently, a Tajikistan-based account under the name Amonov Fahriddin was one of Zanjani’s 27 listed Facebook friends.
- Zedxion Exchange, notably, has promoted a “ZedPay” digital wallet.
On the record
Zanjani has been active on X in addressing Iran’s ongoing turmoil—by criticizing the government that he’s alleged to have facilitated and calling for “real changes.”He posted again the day the U.S. sanctioned him, calling its accusations “nothing but a pretext to seize” $660 million USD in crypto funds and criticizing Iranian officials “aligned with the enemy” for contributing to the “pressure” on his businesses, too.
The sanctions were “proof,” Zanjani said, “of how effective our economic activities in the country have been.”
John Krzyzaniak and Jake Miller contributed research to this report.
Read more from the Kharon Brief:
