US Targets $61M in Tether From Alleged Iranian Oil Network
US prosecutors are seeking to forfeit $61 million in cryptocurrency allegedly generated through sanctioned Iranian oil sales. The assets, tied to a wider network accused of moving over $1.5 billion in illicit oil proceeds, are held across 10 USDT addresses on the TRON blockchain.
The Justice Department claims that two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, used Binance accounts to convert and move the oil proceeds. Prosecutors allege that these companies facilitated transactions designed to obscure the source, ownership, and nature of the funds.
Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley linked the targeted assets to a larger alleged laundering operation: 'As alleged in the complaint filed today, the Government of Iran used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and elsewhere to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money intended to benefit the Iranian military and the terror-designated IRGC.'