Iran’s Revolutionary Guard presented themselves as anti-corruption crusaders when they arrested Sina Estavi in May 2021, closing his Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Cryptoland over alleged $20 million embezzlement charges.

But behind this façade, senior officers had already begun transferring millions from his digital wallet. Blockchain records show just one day after Estavi’s detention, six billion BRG tokens moved silently out of his cryptocurrency wallet.

Estavi had no formal accusers at the time of his arrest. But as news spread, over 51,000 investors filed complaints according to Iran International. Worth over $21 million, this figure was later confirmed by Iran’s Judiciary-controlled Mizan news.

Court documents cited in the report reveal Mehdi Hajipour and Mehdi Badi, senior interrogators in the IRGC’s economic branch, orchestrated the entire scheme.

Before the theft, Hajipour’s assets totaled about 10 billion rials (roughly $40,000). Four months later, his fortune had exploded to 600 billion rials, which he quickly converted to real estate, gold, and luxury vehicles.