$61M in Crypto Proceeds Seized From Iran's Black-Market Oil Sales
The US Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against approximately $61 million in crypto proceeds from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products.
Prosecutors alleged that the sales were intended to finance the Iranian government and its military components, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a US-designated terrorist organization.
The illicit funds were laundered through Binance using trading accounts held by two Chinese companies: Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale. These companies represented themselves as digital asset custodial services firms to other financial services providers, while providing fiat-to-crypto conversion services for Iran-linked transactions.
Prosecutors said that these companies facilitated the transfers of funds from Iranian oil sales to IRGC-related businesses and crypto addresses, including an Iranian crypto exchange. The total amount of illicit proceeds laundered through unhosted crypto addresses exceeds $1.5 billion.