Binance Denies Involvement in $61M Iranian Oil Forfeiture Case
Binance CEO Richard Teng has pushed back against US authorities over a $61 million forfeiture case involving Iranian black market oil sales, saying his exchange is not being targeted. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated the clawback process to freeze the cryptocurrencies, but Binance's CEO says the exchange was only named as a venue in the court documents and not as a defendant.
The DOJ claims that Blessed Trust, a wealth-management firm, and Hexa Whale, a commodities broker, have been fronts for converting cash into crypto for Iran-linked clients. The two firms allegedly have Chinese oil companies on their client list.
According to the court documents, the $61 million is just a slice of the larger sum, with investigators saying a cluster of self-custodied wallets they label 'Entity A' has taken in and pushed out more than $1.5 billion in illicit Iranian oil proceeds. This figure fits a pattern US agencies have been chasing for over a year.
Binance's compliance monitorship stemming from its 2023 guilty plea to US anti-money-laundering and sanctions charges is still ongoing, with the exchange facing penalties of $4.3 billion.