"Citizenship-by-investment:" Spain’s major soccer league signed a sponsorship contract with the Iranian telecom company, but getting money out of the sanctioned country isn’t easy

Spain’s La Liga’s deal with Iranian company MTN Irancell, which has entities in its ownership chain linked to the defense ministry and the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, entitled it to a cut of the profits the Iranian telecom company made from Iranian fans watching Spanish soccer.

Documents show an intermediary with a so-called “golden passport” from the Caribbean island nation of Dominica set up a shell company in Hong Kong. This company transferred at least one payment from Iran to La Liga in an apparent bid to evade financial oversight.

An investigation found other unusual transactions received by the Spanish league, including some received through an ATM in Dubai.