In a report filed just day ago with the Washington D C federal court, lawyers for the Kurdistan Victims Fund characterized the Barzani Criminal Enterprise as a “coldly-efficient massive transnational criminal conspiracy and corruption scheme hiding behind officialdom and enabled by their Washington representatives”, and which criminally degrades, desecrates, and violates what the United States Supreme Court calls the “norm of international character accepted by the civilized world.”  Attorneys have presented to the court, and will present abundant additional evidence, of Barzani crimes ranging from genocide and murder and widespread human rights violations to astonishing amounts of corruption and theft

               For the Barzani Criminal Enterprise, oil is where they unlawfully make lots of money.  And declarations to the court reveal it is all Dirty money.  Dirty money from stolen oil – oil stolen from the Iraqi and Kurdish people – and sold illegally by the Barzani Criminal Enterprise. These sales are in violation of Iraq law, and of U S and international law.  Massive evidence of this is being presented to the United States federal court and simultaneously to the United States Congress.  This has been on-going for many years, and amounts to billions of dollars stolen by the Barzani Criminal Enterprise.  Evidence being made available to the court indicates the Barzani Criminal Enterprise sells oil to Iran at significant discount to market price, which inside sources say is as much as 30 to 40 dollars per barrel, and thereby benefitting Iran, while selling oil to the United States Government at inflated prices – which some witness sources say is as much as 500% inflated.

               In the United States court case, the Kurdistan Victims Fund and the other Plaintiffs are presenting to the court a preponderance of evidence the Barzani Criminal Enterprise conspired, brokered, and traded oil with Iran in willful violation of the U.S. sanctions against Iran and the prohibitions of the U S Emergency Economic Powers Act; and brokered deals for sanctioned Iran oil and other goods and services, contrary to the national security, foreign policy, and economic security interests of the United States;  and subsequently lied to U S diplomatic, intelligence, security, and law enforcement agents about that conduct. 

A Kurd business official this week declared overall trade volume between Iran and the Kurdistan Region is approximately 6 billion dollars per year.  As Masrour Barzani is a United States person, this unlawful commerce is for him yet another mountain of serious violations of United States law being brought before the court.

Properties in the United States, Dubai, London, Vienna, Switzerland, and elsewhere purchased, owned, or controlled by Masrour Barzani, Waysi Barzani, and other Barzani family members through shell companies or secret foreign trusts is property which is derived from proceeds directly traceable to criminal acts.

               As global oil demand is cooling off, prices are pushing to their lowest level in three years, dipping below $70 per barrel.  Yet the Barzani Criminal Enterprises continues full speed in its unlawful oil theft and sales.  Even as this court case documenting enormous Barzani oil criminality is underway in Washington,  Masrour Barzani just brazenly met with Iraq federal officials on long-standing disputes over oil revenues and delayed Kurdistan civil servant payrolls.

               Discussed at that meeting was the issue of oil smuggling from Kurdistan, which the news agency Reuters said in July was around 200,000 barrels per day being smuggled from Kurdistan to Iran and Turkey, generating 210 million dollars per month in unofficial revenue.  Masrour Barzani and his co-conspirators maintain authoritarian and tyrannical control over the Kurdistan oil and gas sectors – at the same time they are profiting through vast oil and gas corruption.

               It is alleged to the United States federal court that as part of the Barzani Criminal Enterprise effort to obtain funds to enable the torture, attempted murder, and murder of Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs’ families, Baz Karim Al-Barzanji and Mahmoud Karim Al-Barzanji, acting in conspiracy with Masrour Barzani, in violation of Iraq law and international law and the U S International Emergency Economic Powers Act, operates the KAR Group Refinery and oversees and manages smuggling oil to Iran and other prohibited destinations with massive revenues and enormous illicit diversion of petrodollars and other criminal proceeds, while simultaneously scheming to route resources, weapons, materiel, cash, oil, and sensitive U.S. national defense intelligence to al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-in-Iraq and Islamic State.

              Additionally, Sarwar Pedawi, a major co-conspirator with Masrour Barzani and Waysi Barzani, directs Masrour Barzani’s illicit oil trades, and directs illicit proceeds to purchase properties in the United States, Dubai, London, Vienna, Switzerland, and elsewhere for Masrour Barzani and his shell companies and other illegally camouflaged entities. 

It is also presented to the court are details of the Barzani Criminal Enterprise’s unlawful sale of oil and diesel to Iran, much of which is alleged to the court to be directed by co-conspirator Nihad Barzani for Masrour Barzani.  Evidence before the court also shows significant amounts of oil and diesel have been resold by Nihad Barzani to U.S. military installations in Kurdistan as falsely labeled Iraq product, contrary to U S laws and sanctions. 

In evidence to be presented at trial, clandestine sources in the Barzani inner circle report that taking advantage of illegal exchange rate manipulation, every unlawful U S  1 million dollar sale of oil to Iran nets the Barzani Criminal Enterprise an additional 200,000 U S Dollars on the exchange rate, unlawfully diverted through German and Dubai banks and elsewhere and back to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, providing monies for the Barzani Criminal Enterprise.

               Evidence before the court from clandestine insider sources reports that every day the Barzani Criminal Enterprise unlawfully receives an estimated 100 million U S dollars through its unlawful oil sales.  Also before the court is information that at least until March 2023, the Barzani Criminal Enterprise was selling 450,000 barrels per day – that number has since been reduced by the Iraq central government to an estimated 150,000 barrels per day.  Currency derived from illegal oil sales is transported inside oil tankers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.  The United States Treasury Department has verified Iran then transfers these proceeds to Hezbollah, an organization designated by the United States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.  The Barzani Criminal Enterprise knows that Hezbollah is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.  Vast amounts of dirty money from its unlawful trade with Iran just makes the Barzani Criminal Enterprise richer and richer.  All of this is being presented to the U S court.

###