- US prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking $61 million in crypto they say came from black-market Iranian oil sales.
- The funds were alleged to be laundered by two Chinese firms, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, through accounts on Binance.
- Binance CEO Richard Teng responded that the case does not name or accuse the exchange, and that Binance blocks transactions with sanctioned parties.
Binance chief executive Richard Teng has come out to clarify that the US DOJ is not specifically targeting the exchange in the latest forfeiture action to freeze Iranian black market oil sales, going up to around $61 million in cryptocurrencies.
The Binance CEO’s pushback came within a day of federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York initiating the clawback process, moving to pull the exchange out of the firing line after it got dragged again into Iran’s sanctions-evasion machinery.
Did the SDNY accuse Binance in Iranian sale of sanctioned oil?
Teng directly clarified that Binance was not a target of the US DOJ action on Tuesday. “As Bloomberg’s article notes, this case was not filed against @binance and does not allege any wrongdoing by Binance,” he wrote on X, adding that the exchange has “zero tolerance for sanctions violations or illicit activity” and “did not permit any transactions with sanctioned individuals.”
Teng directed his X audience to verify the distinction in the court documents. Binance does not fit any of the qualifications of a defendant in a forfeiture action, which refers to assets and the entities alleged to control them.
Those two, in this case, are Blessed Trust, Hexa Whale, and people connected to them. Binance was named in the document, but only as a venue. The prosecutors from the New York office did not specifically accuse the exchange of wrongdoing.
Per the SDNY-led civil forfeiture complaint announced by Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley and FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr., federal prosecutors have their sights on about $61 million in cryptocurrency they claim the Iranian regime made from black-market crude oil sales.
Blessed Trust, a wealth-management or custodial firm, and Hexa Whale, which presents as a commodities broker, have both been accused of being fronts for converting cash into crypto for Iran-linked clients.
Reports have flagged that both targeted firms have Chinese oil companies on their client list.
The $1.5 billion behind the seizure
The $61 million is a slice of something far larger. Investigators say 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, routing the money to IRGC-linked money-services businesses, IRGC crypto addresses, and an Iranian exchange.
Washington has already designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
“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,” Buckley said in the DOJ statement.
That figure fits a pattern US agencies have been chasing for more than a year. Al Jazeera reported in April that Chainalysis valued Iran’s crypto ecosystem at over $7.78 billion in the prior year, with the IRGC accounting for roughly half of on-chain activity in the fourth quarter, as Tehran turned to digital assets to sell oil and skirt banking restrictions.
Not the first time Binance has been tied to Iran flows
This is the latest instance of Binance being linked to Iranian money without being charged. In August, Cryptopolitan reported that a Reuters investigation traced at least $4 billion moved over two years by the sanctioned exchange Shelbit, with part of it passing through Binance.
At least $676 million reportedly flowed from Shelbit-connected wallets onto Binance, including about $540 million after Dubai’s regulator penalized Shelbit. Binance denied holding any Shelbit-controlled accounts and called the $540 million figure inaccurate, saying any linked accounts had already been frozen and reported.
The forfeiture action also lands inside the Treasury’s broader “Economic Fury” campaign against Iran, which has sanctioned Nobitex, Shelbit, Aban Tether, and wallets tied to Iran’s central bank.
Binance still operates under a three-year compliance monitorship stemming from its 2023 guilty plea to US anti-money-laundering and sanctions charges, which carried $4.3 billion in penalties.
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FAQs
Who filed the $61 million forfeiture case and against what?
The Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office, with the FBI, filed a civil forfeiture complaint against roughly $61 million in cryptocurrency it alleges came from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil.
Was Binance charged or accused of wrongdoing?
No. CEO Richard Teng said the case was not filed against Binance and does not allege wrongdoing by the exchange; prosecutors instead name two Chinese firms, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, as using Binance accounts to launder the funds.
How much money have prosecutors traced overall?
The DOJ says a group of self-custodied wallets it calls "Entity A" received and distributed more than $1.5 billion in proceeds from illicit Iranian oil sales, funneling money to IRGC-linked businesses, crypto addresses, and an Iranian exchange.
Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
