Two men face jail terms of up to 45 years each after being convicted of attempting to ship Iranian oil to China in breach of US sanctions.

Zhenyu Wang and Daniel Lane, both 42 and from Texas, US, were found guilty at a trial of sanctions and money laundering charges over planned twice-monthly shipments to a Chinese refinery.

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The men were part of a plot to bribe officials and use a Polish front company to disguise the source of the oil, according to court documents.

They had planned two shipments a month from Iran to Shanghai, China, and had hoped to net a profit of $28m a month, according to the US Department of Justice. They were planning to launder the proceeds through Swiss bank accounts.

The men were convicted at a court in Philadelphia after their plot was infiltrated by an undercover agent, according to documents.

The plans were made in London and at hotels in Dallas, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Recordings were made of telephone calls involving the men and the undercover agent.

In one phone call recorded in January 2020, Wang — who represented the refinery — said he was working on a “fee protection agreement” of $4 a barrel to pay off politicians, inspectors and bankers.

Wang told the agent: “It is a bribe… it is… I don’t want to sugarcoat it… it is a bribe.”

The men worked on the plan for more than eight months before they were arrested, according to prosecutors.

“These defendants schemed to buy Iranian oil, hide its origins, and sell it to a refinery in China in disregard of US sanctions against Iran,” said US Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

The men are due to be sentenced in February.

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