$61 Million Cryptocurrency Forfeiture Case Targets Alleged Iranian Oil Money Laundering

The US Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against $61 million in cryptocurrency allegedly linked to Iranian oil proceeds. The funds are said to have been laundered through Binance, but the exchange is not named as a defendant and maintains it committed no wrongdoing.

Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that the exchange has zero tolerance for sanctions violations and cooperates with law enforcement. He emphasized that Binance freezes accounts whenever it identifies illicit finance risk, saying 'if you seek to use our industry to evade the law, we will find you, freeze you out, and hand you over to the authorities.'

The complaint alleges that two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, used trading accounts on Binance as part of a scheme to move Iranian oil proceeds toward Iran and its affiliated networks. Prosecutors claim some of this money reached the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a military branch designated as a terrorist organization by the US.

The case highlights a persistent problem for global exchanges: bad actors can open legitimate-looking accounts and move enormous sums before red flags surface. The scale here is notable, with prosecutors alleging that the wallet network tied to this scheme moved more than $1.5 billion in Iranian oil proceeds overall.