DOJ Targets $61M in Binance-Linked Crypto for Iran Oil Proceeds

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint on September 14 seeking to seize $61 million in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors allege the funds are tied to Binance trading accounts and black market sales of Iranian oil.

The complaint identifies Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, two China-based firms, as holding the trading accounts through which the funds moved before allegedly reaching Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist organization. Deputy US Attorney Sean Buckley announced the filing, stating that the action aims to deprive the Government of Iran and its proxies of illegal money used to threaten US citizens and others.

These two entities were previously named in a Senate probe earlier this year. In March, Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng called the allegations against the company "false and defamatory." Binance maintained at that time that no funds directly touched Iranian entities. However, the new complaint alleges that a network of wallets, referred to as Entity A, moved more than $1.5 billion in illicit Iranian oil proceeds to IRGC-linked services and an Iranian exchange.

This is not the first instance of Binance-linked accounts appearing in Iran-related sanctions reporting. Reuters reported that Shelbit, an Iran-linked exchange that was fined in Dubai, sent $676 million onto Binance. Historically, Binance pleaded guilty to sanctions violations in 2023 and paid a $4.3 billion penalty.

The Justice Department's complaint does not name Binance as a defendant. The legal action targets the cryptocurrency itself, along with the alleged roles of Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale. Binance faces no charges in this specific filing.

The filing occurs two weeks before Binance's planned UK license bid opens for applications on September 30. The exchange is seeking authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under Britain's new crypto framework, a process centered on governance and compliance standards. A fresh complaint linking its platform to Iran-related laundering may complicate that application. How the FCA weighs this complaint against Binance's bid will become clearer once the application window opens.