II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2353 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the estimated total 

assets under direct or indirect control by certain senior Iranian leaders 

and other figures, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 29, 2018 

Mr. COTTON (for himself and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the 

estimated total assets under direct or indirect control 

by certain senior Iranian leaders and other figures, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Iranian Leadership 

5 Asset Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Iran is characterized by high levels of offi2 cial and institutional corruption, and substantial in3 volvement by Iran’s security forces, particularly the 

4 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (in this Act re5 ferred to as the ‘‘IRGC’’), in the economy. 

6 (2) Many members of Iran’s senior political and 

7 military leadership have acquired significant per8 sonal and institutional wealth by using their posi9 tions to secure control of significant portions of 

10 Iran’s national economy. 

11 (3) Sanctions relief provided through the Joint 

12 Comprehensive Plan of Action has resulted in the re13 moval of many Iranian entities that are tied to gov14 ernmental corruption from the list of entities sanc15 tioned by the United States. 

16 (4) The Department of the Treasury in 2011 

17 designated Iran’s financial sector as a jurisdiction of 

18 primary money laundering concern under section 

19 5318A of title 31, United States Code, stating 

20 ‘‘Treasury has for the first time identified the entire 

21 Iranian financial sector; including Iran’s Central 

22 Bank, private Iranian banks, and branches, and sub23 sidiaries of Iranian banks operating outside of Iran 

24 as posing illicit finance risks for the global financial 

25 system.’’. 


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1 (5) Iran continues to be listed by the Financial 

2 Action Task Force (in this section referred to as 

3 ‘‘FATF’’) among the ‘‘high-risk and non-cooperative 

4 jurisdictions’’, jurisdictions that FATF perceives to 

5 be non-cooperative in the global fight against ter6 rorist finance and money laundering. 

7 (6) Iran and North Korea are the only coun8 tries listed by the FATF as ‘‘high-risk and non-co9 operative jurisdictions’’ against which countries that 

10 are members of FATF should take measures. 

11 (7) The Transparency International index of 

12 perceived public corruption ranks Iran 131st out of 

13 176 countries surveyed. 

14 (8) The Department of State identified Iran as 

15 a ‘‘major money-laundering country’’ in its Inter16 national Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 

17 2016. 

18 (9) The Department of State currently identi19 fies Iran, along with North Korea, Sudan, and 

20 Syria, as a state sponsor of terrorism, for ‘‘having 

21 repeatedly provided support for acts of international 

22 terrorism’’. 

23 (10) The Department of State’s Country Re24 ports on Terrorism for 2014, noted that ‘‘Iran con25 tinued to sponsor terrorist groups around the world, 


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1 principally through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard 

2 Corps–Qods Force (IRGC–QF). These groups in3 cluded Lebanese Hizballah, several Iraqi Shia mili4 tant groups, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad. 

5 Iran, Hizballah, and other Shia militia continued to 

6 provide support to the Asad regime, dramatically 

7 bolstering its capabilities, prolonging the civil war in 

8 Syria, and worsening the human rights and refugee 

9 crisis there.’’. 

10 (11) The Government of Iran’s tolerance of cor11 ruption and nepotism in business limits opportuni12 ties for foreign and domestic investment, particularly 

13 given the significant involvement of the IRGC in 

14 many sectors of Iran’s economy. 

15 (12) The IRGC and the leadership-controlled 

bonyads (foundations) control an estimated 1 16 ⁄3 of 

17 Iran’s total economy, including large portions of 

18 Iran’s telecommunications, construction, and airport 

19 and port operations. These operations give the IRGC 

20 and bonyads vast funds to support terrorist organi21 zations such as Hezbollah and Hamas. 

22 (13) By gaining control of major economic sec23 tors, the IRGC and bonyads have also served to fur24 ther disadvantage the average citizen of Iran. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORT RELATING TO ASSETS OF IRANIAN LEAD2 ERS AND SENIOR POLITICAL FIGURES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 

5 (or more frequently if the Secretary of the Treasury deter6 mines it appropriate based on new information received 

7 by the Secretary) for the following 2 years, the Secretary 

8 of the Treasury shall, in furtherance of the Secretary’s 

9 efforts to prevent the financing of terrorism, money laun10 dering, and related illicit finance and to make financial 

11 institutions’ required compliance with sanctions more eas12 ily understood, submit to the appropriate congressional 

13 committees a report containing— 

14 (1) the estimated total funds or other assets 

15 held in accounts at United States and foreign finan16 cial institutions that are under direct or indirect 

17 control of each individual described in subsection (b) 

18 and a description of such funds or assets; 

19 (2) an identification of any equity interest such 

20 an individual has in an entity on the list of specially 

21 designated nationals and blocked persons maintained 

22 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the De23 partment of the Treasury or in any other entity with 

24 respect to which sanctions are imposed; 


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1 (3) a description of how such funds or assets or 

2 equity interests were acquired, and how they have 

3 been used or employed; 

4 (4) a description of any new methods or tech5 niques used to evade anti-money laundering and re6 lated laws, including recommendations to improve 

7 techniques to combat illicit uses of the United States 

8 financial system by individuals described in sub9 section (b); 

10 (5) recommendations for how United States 

11 economic sanctions against Iran may be revised to 

12 prevent the funds or other assets described in para13 graph (1) from being used by individuals described 

14 in subsection (b) to contribute— 

15 (A) to the continued development, testing, 

16 and procurement of ballistic missile technology 

17 by Iran; and 

18 (B) to human rights abuses; 

19 (6) an assessment of the impact and effective20 ness of United States economic sanctions programs 

21 against Iran; 

22 (7) a description of how the Department of the 

23 Treasury assesses the impact and effectiveness of 

24 United States economic sanctions programs against 

25 Iran; and 


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1 (8) recommendations for improving the ability 

2 of the Department of the Treasury to rapidly and ef3 fectively develop, implement, and enforce additional 

4 economic sanctions against Iran if so ordered by the 

5 President under the International Emergency Eco6 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) or any 

7 other provision of law. 

8 (b) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—The individuals de9 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

10 (1) The Supreme Leader of Iran. 

11 (2) The President of Iran. 

12 (3) Members of the Council of Guardians. 

13 (4) Members of the Expediency Council. 

14 (5) The Minister of Intelligence and Security. 

15 (6) The Commander and the Deputy Com16 mander of the IRGC. 

17 (7) The Commander and the Deputy Com18 mander of the IRGC Ground Forces. 

19 (8) The Commander and the Deputy Com20 mander of the IRGC Aerospace Force. 

21 (9) The Commander and the Deputy Com22 mander of the IRGC Navy. 

23 (10) The Commander of the Basij-e24 Mostaz’afin. 

25 (11) The Commander of the Qods Force. 


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1 (12) The Commander in Chief of the Police 

2 Force. 

3 (13) The head of the IRGC Joint Staff. 

4 (14) The Commander of the IRGC Intelligence. 

5 (15) The head of the IRGC Imam Hussein Uni6 versity. 

7 (16) The Supreme Leader’s Representative at 

8 the IRGC. 

9 (17) The Chief Executive Officer and the 

10 Chairman of the IRGC Cooperative Foundation. 

11 (18) The Commander of the Khatam-al-Anbia 

12 Construction Head Quarter. 

13 (19) The Chief Executive Officer of the Basij 

14 Cooperative Foundation. 

15 (20) The head of the Political Bureau of the 

16 IRGC. 

17 (21) The head of the Atomic Energy Organiza18 tion of Iran. 

19 (c) FORM OF REPORT; PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

20 (1) FORM.—Each report required by subsection 

21 (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may 

22 contain a classified annex. 

23 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclassified 

24 portion of a report required by subsection (a) shall 

25 be made available to the public and posted on a pubVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Jan 30, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2353.IS S2353

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1 licly available Internet website of the Department of 

2 the Treasury— 

3 (A) in English, Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri; 

4 and 

5 (B) in precompressed, easily downloadable 

6 versions that are made available in all appro7 priate formats. 

8 (d) SOURCES OF INFORMATION.—In preparing a re9 port required by subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

10 Treasury may use any credible publication, database, web11 based resource, public information compiled by any gov12 ernment agency, and any information collected or com13 piled by a nongovernmental organization or other entity 

14 provided to or made available to the Secretary, that the 

15 Secretary finds credible. 

16 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT18 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com19 mittees’’ means— 

20 (A) the Committee on Financial Services 

21 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

22 House of Representatives; and 

23 (B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

24 and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For25 eign Relations of the Senate. 


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1 (2) FUNDS.—The term ‘‘funds’’ means— 

2 (A) cash; 

3 (B) equity; 

4 (C) any other intangible asset the value of 

5 which is derived from a contractual claim, in6 cluding bank deposits, bonds, stocks, a security 

7 (as defined in section 2(a) of the Securities Act 

8 of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77b(a))), or a security or 

9 an equity security (as defined in section 3(a) of 

10 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

11 U.S.C. 78c(a))); and 

12 (D) any other asset that the Secretary de13 termines appropriate. 

14 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

15 It is the sense of Congress that, in preparing the re16 ports required by section 3, the Secretary of the Treasury 

17 should consider acquiring information from sources that— 

18 (1) collect and, if necessary, translate high-ve19 racity, official records; or 

20 (2) provide search and analysis tools that en21 able law enforcement agencies to have new insights 

22 into commercial and financial relationships. 

Æ 


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