Two US men jailed for conspiracy to sell Iranian oil to China.

Timmy Mabs | 12th June, 2024.

Two Texas men, Zhenyu Wang and Daniel Ray Lane, have been sentenced to 45 months in prison for attempting to sell Iranian petroleum in violation of US sanctions and conspiring to commit money laundering.

According to the Justice Department, the pair schemed to evade US economic sanctions against Iran from July 2019 to February 2020. They facilitated the purchase of sanctioned oil from Iran, masked its origins, and sold it to a refinery in China.

Lane, the president of Stack Royalties, a Texas-based company, claimed that the case was an example of government overreach. His attorney, Paul Hetznecker, stated that undercover government agents offered Lane "millions of dollars in profits" to participate in the scheme, which he initially rebuffed.

The pair were charged alongside three others in 2020 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. At least two co-conspirators have since pleaded guilty, according to court records. The sentencing highlights the ongoing enforcement of US sanctions against Iran's petroleum exports, which China continues to import despite the sanctions.