US Sanctions Greece-, Panama-Based Law Firm Over Aid to Iranian Shipping

The action—executed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as part of the broader "Operation Economic Outcast" campaign—represents a rare and aggressive regulatory escalation: holding licensed legal counsel and corporate registration intermediaries directly liable for aiding sanctions-evasion schemes in global energy and commodity markets.

The United States Department of the Treasury has expanded the scope of its maritime financial enforcement by imposing direct sanctions on international law firm Karnakis and Karnakis, which maintains principal offices in Panama and Greece.<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote> Federal authorities accuse the legal practice of providing multi-year corporate registration, administrative, and logistical assistance that facilitated illicit maritime operations for Iran’s clandestine shadow tanker fleet.<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote><sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2137671841="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"> <source-inline-chip _ngcontent-ng-c2137671841="" _nghost-ng-c197584763="" class="ng-star-inserted" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-inline-chip></sources-carousel-inline>The action—executed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as part of the broader "Operation Economic Outcast" campaign—represents a rare and aggressive regulatory escalation: holding licensed legal counsel and corporate registration intermediaries directly liable for aiding sanctions-evasion schemes in global energy and commodity markets.<h3 data-path-to-node="5" style="font-family: "Google Sans", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Corporate Shells and Corporate Agency Roles</h3>According to findings detailed by the U.S. Treasury, Karnakis and Karnakis played an instrumental role in creating, managing, and maintaining corporate front companies that obscured the beneficial ownership of commercial vessels hauling Iranian crude oil, petrochemicals, and industrial exports.Specifically, federal investigators highlighted the law firm’s role as the registered resident agent for Roxette Maritime Shipping and Trading S.A., an entity operating across Panama and Greece that was designated in the same enforcement sweep for operating in the petrochemical sector of the Iranian economy.<h3 data-path-to-node="11" style="font-family: "Google Sans", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Banking Scrutiny and Financial Subpoenas</h3>Alongside the designations against the law firm and its managed fleet, the U.S. government signaled an intensified focus on European financial institutions that may have processed payments linked to these maritime operations.<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote><sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2137671841="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"> <source-inline-chip _ngcontent-ng-c2137671841="" _nghost-ng-c197584763="" class="ng-star-inserted" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-inline-chip></sources-carousel-inline>The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an administrative subpoena under the Bank Secrecy Act to advance a formal investigation into an unnamed Greek commercial bank regarding potential financial links and transaction processing for Iranian state entities and their regional proxies.<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote> Additionally, FinCEN issued formal requests for information (RFIs) to six other European financial institutions, demanding detailed records of correspondent banking activities and wire clearances tied to OFAC-designated Iranian shipping fronts.<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote><sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2137671841="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"> <source-inline-chip _ngcontent-ng-c2137671841="" _nghost-ng-c197584763="" class="ng-star-inserted" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-inline-chip></sources-carousel-inline>Treasury officials warned that financial institutions and gatekeepers that facilitate money laundering, vessel purchases, or corporate camouflage on behalf of designated Iranian networks face immediate exclusion from U.S. dollar clearing corridors and severe secondary sanctions.<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote><sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2137671841="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"> <source-inline-chip _ngcontent-ng-c2137671841="" _nghost-ng-c197584763="" class="ng-star-inserted" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-inline-chip></sources-carousel-inline><h3 data-path-to-node="15" style="font-family: "Google Sans", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Treasury Warning to the Professional Services Sector</h3>The penalization of a maritime legal practice illustrates Washington’s strategy of striking the "white-collar infrastructure" enabling dark fleet operations. Announcing the designations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a direct warning to legal, corporate, and maritime professionals worldwide:<blockquote data-path-to-node="17" class="" style="font-family: "Google Sans Text", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">"Whether you are conducting illegal oil transfers at sea or sitting in the corner office of a law firm, if you are supporting the Iranian regime, we will find you and sanction you. Iran's facilitators must make a choice: Either you are with us or against us. We know who you are, we know what you're <source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote><source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote>doing, and we will continue to take action."<source-footnote ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2613518143="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-footnote><sources-carousel-inline ng-version="0.0.0-PLACEHOLDER" _nghost-ng-c2137671841="" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"> <source-inline-chip _ngcontent-ng-c2137671841="" _nghost-ng-c197584763="" class="ng-star-inserted" style="line-height: 1.15 !important;"></source-inline-chip></sources-carousel-inline></blockquote><h3 data-path-to-node="18" style="font-family: "Google Sans", sans-serif !important; line-height: 1.15 !important;">Chilling Effect on Maritime Legal and Registry Practice</h3>The blacklisting of Karnakis and Karnakis has sent immediate shockwaves through the international maritime legal community, particularly across primary flag-state registries and maritime legal capitals such as Panama City, Athens, Piraeus, and Limassol.Legal compliance experts note that international corporate law firms frequently act as formation agents, resident representatives, and administrative intermediaries for offshore vessel-owning special-purpose vehicles (SPVs). By treating a law firm as a primary sanctionable facilitator rather than an untouchable third-party service provider, the U.S. Treasury has set a major enforcement precedent.Maritime law firms, corporate trust providers, and vessel classification agencies are rapidly reviewing their client books and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) onboarding protocols, systematically shedding business ties with ambiguous beneficial owners to avoid becoming the next target of federal enforcement sweeps.

US Sanctions Greece-, Panama-Based Law Firm Over Aid to Iranian Shipping

Haulage Times Daily Intelligence