Government officials in Iran accused of stealing $21 million in cryptocurrency while they have investigated corruption allegations against Cryptoland, a digital exchange in the country.

According to a recent news report, two government officials, Mehdi Hajipour and Mehdi Badi, who are high-ranking officials within Iran’s Revolutionary Guard intelligence agency, embezzled approximately $21 million in cryptocurrency under the guise of investigating a corruption scandal involving the crypto exchange.

Hajipour and Badi, who were part of the investigation team, stole cryptocurrency from Cryptoland’s CEO, Sina Estavi, after his arrest in May 2021. The corrupt officials then sold off the stolen funds, generating tens of millions of dollars.

Crypto Corruption Exposed in Iran

Hajipour and Badi stole from the Cryptoland CEO after authorities arrested him in 2021 for embezzling funds.

To cover their tracks, Hajipour created a fake identity to trick Estavi into buying back the stolen tokens. Authorities caught him when he accepted a $10,000 payment from Estavi in a sting operation. Investigations revealed he controlled crypto wallets used to sell over $21 million in BRG tokens.

Hajipour’s wealth before the heist was around 10 billion rials ($40,000). However, after the operation, his assets surged to a staggering 10,600 billion rials ($2.4 million) within a mere four-month period, with the bulk of the funds going into lavish expenditures on real estate, gold, and luxury vehicles.

The investigation also revealed that Hajipour did not work alone. He had a network of senior interrogators from the IRGC Intelligence Organization working with him, including Mehdi Badi, Majid Jahan Parto, and Majid Tabatabaei.

Reports indicate the parties’ fate remains undecided, except that authorities rejected Hajipour’s appeal in September 2022. Estavi received a 15-year prison sentence and must return the embezzled funds.

Hajipour, Badi, and their network still owe money to many investors; around 25,000 creditors await the repayment of funds they obtained.

Crypto Theft on the Rise

In another event of crypto corruption, similar to Iran’s case, an Australian police officer was accused by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) of stealing 81.62 Bitcoin from a Trezor hardware wallet found during a drug raid.