The US Justice Department has initiated a civil forfeiture claim for $61 million in cryptocurrency, asserting these funds were generated from illicit Iranian oil sales and subsequently laundered via the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed the claim, alleging that Iran has used cryptocurrency to launder over $1.5 billion in oil money obtained through black-market transactions.
According to the US prosecutors, two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, utilized trading accounts on Binance as part of a scheme to channel these oil proceeds to Iran, its agents, and proxies. These funds were then allegedly used to finance military and terrorist activities. The complaint states that the seized $61 million is part of this larger scheme, which has involved transfers to Iranian crypto exchanges and money transmitters linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, described as a wealth management firm and a commodities broker respectively, are also alleged to have used the US financial system to transfer tens of millions of dollars within this scheme. While Binance was the platform used for the laundering, prosecutors did not accuse Binance of wrongdoing. Binance has stated it has a zero-tolerance policy for sanctions violations and illicit activity, and that it cooperates with law enforcement, having already off-boarded the implicated entities.
The cryptocurrency targeted for forfeiture is Tether's USDT stablecoin. Tether froze approximately $61.19 million across 10 Tron addresses in 2025, which the DOJ alleges are connected to the Iranian oil proceeds. The FBI is authorized to take custody of these assets by having Tether destroy the frozen tokens and issue replacements of equal value to an FBI-controlled hardware wallet. This action by the DOJ is part of ongoing efforts to combat illicit financing linked to Iran.
