What enforcement actions have U.S. and state regulators taken against dinar promoters since 2010?
Executive summary
Since 2010 U.S. federal prosecutors and law enforcement have pursued multiple criminal cases against Iraqi dinar promoters, secured high‑profile convictions in at least two major schemes, and continued investigations that involved the FBI, IRS‑CI and FinCEN, while state regulators and consumer‑protection offices issued warnings and investor alerts about the dinar “revaluation” pitch [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Coverage and agency notices make clear enforcement has ranged from criminal indictments and convictions to wide investigative activity and regulatory consumer alerts, but public records in the provided reporting do not constitute a complete catalog of every action taken nationwide [6] [7].
1. Federal criminal prosecutions and convictions
Federal prosecutors brought and won major criminal cases against dinar sellers: a Northern District of Ohio trial resulted in convictions tied to a $24 million fraud that began in about August 2010 involving the BH Group and Bayshore Capital Investments, where defendants marketed Iraqi dinar purchases and fake hedge funds to investors [1]; and a separate federal jury convicted the owners and an executive of Sterling Currency Group in Atlanta for mail and wire fraud conspiracy after the company took in over $600 million in dinar and other currency sales between 2010 and mid‑2015, with executives receiving large distributions and making fraudulent cash‑out promises to investors [2].
2. Indictments, guilty pleas and the wider prosecutorial arc
The enforcement arc included earlier indictments and guilty pleas leading into the convictions: Jacksonville‑area and Toledo individuals were federally indicted as early as 2012 in schemes that relied on conference calls, websites and false claims of inside government connections to sell dinar and fake funds [8], and at least one co‑conspirator pleaded guilty before trial in the 2015 Ohio prosecution [1]; the Sterling prosecutions began with a 2016 indictment and culminated in convictions in 2018, after which prosecutors sought appellate review to uphold sentences and convictions [9] [2] [6].
3. Federal investigative activity beyond prosecutions
Federal investigative agencies kept multiple dinar operations under scrutiny: the FBI publicly solicited victim information in investigations tied to Dinar Corp. and Sterling Currency Group and said the FBI and IRS‑CI were investigating dinar sales and related alleged money‑laundering activity [7] [10], while reporting and filings indicated the FBI and IRS‑CI investigated larger dinar revaluation schemes that drew increased revenue spikes and distributor activity in the early 2010s [3].
4. Financial intelligence and regulatory scrutiny (FinCEN and others)
Financial regulators and intelligence units analyzed dinar sellers for money‑services and suspicious activity concerns: FinCEN identified businesses that buy or sell Iraqi dinars as potentially subject to Bank Secrecy Act rules, used Bank Secrecy Act filings to trace structured money movement and highlighted that dinar sales could trigger money‑services‑business compliance and law‑enforcement interest [4]. That analytic and regulatory attention supported criminal and civil inquiries and raised red flags for banks and correspondent institutions handling dinar transactions [4].
5. State regulators, consumer alerts and local reporting
State securities and consumer protection agencies repeatedly warned the public, issuing investor alerts and advisories that the dinar “revaluation” pitch was a long‑running scam and risky for retail investors, with specific guidance and alerts produced by state offices such as Alabama’s securities commission and media investigations that amplified those warnings [5] [11] [12]. Those state actions were primarily preventive and advisory rather than criminal prosecutions, although state warnings were often cited by federal investigators and journalists documenting loss patterns and promoter tactics [5] [11].
6. What the public record provided here does not prove
The assembled reporting documents multiple major federal prosecutions, ongoing FBI/IRS inquiries, FinCEN analysis and frequent state alerts, but the sources do not provide a definitive tally of every civil enforcement action, injunction, restitution order or forfeiture tied to all dinar promoters nationwide since 2010, so a comprehensive case‑by‑case registry would require additional agency files and court dockets beyond the materials cited here [1] [2] [7] [4].