US Justice Department seeks $61 million tied to Iranian oil money laundered via Binance

Binance's controls faced intense legal scrutiny in 2023, when the Justice Department charged the company and its co-founder with violating anti-money laundering rules, resulting in a $4.3 billion fine. By CNBCTV18.com September 15, 2026, 7:03:17 AM IST (Published) 3 Min Read The US Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture claim seeking $61 million tied to Iranian oil money laundered through crypto exchange Binance. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged that Iran had used cryptocurrency to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil proceeds.

Two Chinese entities used trading accounts on Binance as part of the scheme, funnelling oil money to Iran, its agents and proxies, who used it to finance military and terrorist activities, prosecutors said. The claim was filed on Monday. The two entities named were Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited, which prosecutors said had presented themselves as a wealth management firm and a commodities broker respectively.

Also Read: DOJ to challenge dismissal of Harvard civil rights suit They also allegedly used the US financial system to send and receive tens of millions of dollars as part of the scheme according to a Bloomberg report. "Today we are seizing and seeking to forfeit more than $61 million of the Government of Iran's money, which otherwise would have promoted hostile military action and terrorist attacks against the US and our allies," Manhattan Deputy US Attorney Sean Buckley said in a statement. Prosecutors did not accuse Binance of any wrongdoing.

Binance said it did not allow transactions with sanctioned individuals and would continue working with law enforcement, investigating and freezing accounts where risks were identified. Accounts holding the illicit oil proceeds were allegedly used to transfer crypto to an Iranian exchange and money transmitters acting as fronts for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, prosecutors said. The forfeiture claim is the latest in a series of legal actions taken by US prosecutors against Iran in recent months, as fighting between the two countries continued.

In February, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that an internal Binance investigation had found more than $1 billion moved through the platform to Iranian entities linked to terrorist groups. Binance said it had already off-boarded Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust before those reports emerged and maintained that its compliance programme was robust according to Bloomberg. Binance's controls faced intense legal scrutiny in 2023, when the Justice Department charged the company and its co-founder with violating anti-money laundering rules.

Also Read: Binance expands beyond crypto with gold, silver options trading Prosecutors in that case said terrorist groups, people in sanctioned countries and cyber criminals had used the platform to move hundreds of millions of dollars. Binance paid a $4.3 billion fine to resolve that probe, and co-founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to violating banking laws, serving four months in prison. President Donald Trump granted Zhao a pardon last year.

With Bloomberg Inputs Home World News US Justice Department seeks $61 million tied to Iranian oil money laundered via Binance

Source: CNBC TV18