“We are faced with the United States of Donald Trump”: how did a French SME end up on the American blacklist?

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In the heart of Burgundy, an SME finds itself bankrupt because of a decision taken by Donald Trump himself in his war against Iran. Don't see the link? It's normal. “The Eye of the 20 Hours” explains. Arriving at the Nivernaise de Raffinage site, the silence is total. The factory produces biofuel by reusing used vegetable oils: "Normally, these are installations which allow us to produce biodiesel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Today, everything is at a standstill, and as you can see, there are no employees present on the site", tells us Geoffrey Minart, employee of the factory.

A ghost site, since its name appeared on the US Treasury blacklist. In a document, Washington targets dozens of companies for their links to Iran. There are large Chinese transport groups, oil traders from Dubai, but also our famous Burgundian SME. It's written in black and white, and even in bold: "la Nivernaise de Raffinage".

The group accused of being linked to a man close to the Iranian regime

How did his name end up on this list? It all starts in 2024. The company is in difficulty. It was then bought and relaunched by Wellbred, an international oil group headquartered in Singapore. But this industrial rescue will turn into a nightmare. Because Wellbred is in the sights of the United States: the group is accused of being linked to Mohammad Shamkhani, a man unknown to the general public, but very close to the Iranian regime. This is why the United States has blacklisted Wellbred and all its subsidiaries. “Today, we want to make it clear. No one can escape American sanctions,” warned Scott Bessent, the United States Treasury Secretary, at the end of August.

Contacted by email, Wellbred did not respond to us. But its French subsidiary, already weakened by a drop in orders, has just announced its liquidation, to the great dismay of its 33 employees. "It hit us hard, because it was completely unexpected. Here, we are clearly confronted with the United States of Donald Trump. You ask yourself questions, when you see an FBI investigation: 'Oh right? Doesn't that only exist in films?'", comments Didier Nisgand, employee of Nivernaise de Raffinage.

“This company is dead in Europe,” says a banker

With the American sanctions, it is the start of a vicious cycle for the company. His bank, a large French establishment, canceled all his contracts. One of the bankers confirms this to us, on condition of anonymity: "In any case, this company is dead in Europe. There is not a company that does international trade that will want to work with them after these sanctions."

This is the strength of American sanctions. All business partners withdraw one after the other so as not to risk being blacklisted in turn. "All banks will therefore take a risk. I continue to conclude contracts with this company under sanctions, and therefore my risk is to be removed from the American market, or I terminate the contract. In general, we terminate the contract", summarizes Daniel Mainguy, professor at the Sorbonne Law School.

According to our information, the Ministry of the Economy tried to negotiate with the Americans, but Bercy did not answer our questions. The employees of the SME nevertheless hope to be bought by a new shareholder who would allow them to get off this blacklist.