U.S. Seeks $61 Million in Crypto Tied to Alleged Iranian Oil Laundering Network
•
September 15, 2026 7:12 pm
•
Comments
Federal prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of roughly $61 million in cryptocurrency they say came from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian oil.
The civil complaint describes a much larger network. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, a group of related crypto addresses received and distributed more than $1.5 billion in alleged oil proceeds.
Prosecutors say two Hong Kong-incorporated companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, used Binance accounts to move funds from oil sold to buyers in China. The government alleges those funds were ultimately sent to Iran, its agents or proxies.
The filing says the companies presented themselves to financial and crypto service providers as wealth-management, custody or commodities businesses. Prosecutors instead allege they provided an on-ramp that converted fiat payments into cryptocurrency and helped obscure the source and ownership of the money.
The government also says the connected wallets sent funds to money-service businesses and crypto addresses linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as to an Iranian exchange. Those are allegations in the complaint, and the Justice Department notes that they have not been proven.
The forfeiture action targets approximately 61.19 million USDT across 10 Tron addresses. The underlying complaint says the tokens were frozen in 2025 and that a seizure warrant would allow Tether to destroy the frozen tokens and issue replacements to an FBI-controlled wallet.
The filing identifies at least seven interrelated addresses as part of what investigators call “Entity A.” Prosecutors say those addresses were used alongside exchange accounts and additional wallets to separate payments from their alleged oil-sale origin.
A forfeiture judgment would transfer ownership of the replacement tokens to the United States. Until a court enters that judgment, the case remains an allegation over who is legally entitled to the frozen assets.
The action drew renewed attention as details of the complaint circulated Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney Seeks Forfeiture Of $61 Million In Cryptocurrency From The Iranian Military’s Black-Market Oil Sales https://t.co/pyMyrQ1ABt
— Matthew Levitt (@Levitt_Matt) September 15, 2026
Binance is not a defendant in the case, and the complaint does not allege wrongdoing by the exchange. Co-CEO Richard Teng said Binance has zero tolerance for sanctions violations and disputed any suggestion that the exchange knowingly permitted transactions with sanctioned parties.
As Bloomberg's article notes, this case was not filed against @binance and does not allege any wrongdoing by Binance.
Let me be clear: We have zero tolerance for sanctions violations or illicit activity, and we did not permit any transactions with sanctioned individuals.
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) September 15, 2026
The complaint says the alleged network used multiple wallets, intermediaries and accounts to obscure the origin and ownership of the money. It also claims some participating companies used the U.S. financial system to send or receive tens of millions of dollars.
This is a civil forfeiture case, not a criminal conviction or final judgment. The government must still prove its claim before it can obtain permanent ownership of the assets.
The case is another reminder that stablecoin transfers can move across borders quickly while remaining vulnerable to intervention by issuers and law enforcement. Blockchain records may be public, but identifying the people and business relationships behind a chain of wallets can still require years of investigative work.
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.