Binance Accounts Tied to $61 Million Iranian Oil Crypto Laundering Scheme

US prosecutors are seeking to forfeit approximately $61 million in cryptocurrency allegedly linked to black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian oil and petroleum products. The money is held at 10 TRON addresses, which are associated with a China-linked payment network that moved over $1.5 billion for the benefit of Iran's government, military bodies, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The alleged scheme used front companies, exchange trading accounts, U.S. correspondent banking, and clustered wallets to connect oil buyers to Iranian recipients. The connection to Binance is explicit in the complaint, which alleges that Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited used trading accounts at the UAE-based exchange to conduct transactions representing proceeds from Iranian oil sold to Chinese buyers.

The complaint does not allege that Binance designed the network or knowingly participated in it. However, it does note that the exchange collects customer-identification records and retains transaction information, including involved addresses, timestamps, asset types, and amounts. This data can connect otherwise pseudonymous blockchain movements to corporate customers and individuals.