U.S. authorities allege that crypto exchange Binance has been used to launder the proceeds from the sale of Iranian oil on the black market.
In a civil forfeiture complaint filed in the U.S. district court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), U.S. authorities are seeking to seize US$61 million in cryptoassets that, they allege, represent revenues from black market oil sales by Iran to Chinese buyers.
The complaint alleges that two Hong Kong-based companies — a digital wealth management firm, Blessed Trust Ltd., and a commodities broker, Hexa Whale Trading Ltd. — helped launder the proceeds of black market oil transactions by providing “on-ramp” services to convert fiat currency into cryptoassets.
In its filing, the U.S. government seeks the seizure of US$61.2 million worth of crypto — the stablecoin, Tether — that has been frozen since mid-2025 in seven interrelated crypto wallets that, the U.S. alleges, have been used to launder more than US$1.5 billion worth of illicit Iranian oil sales.
The allegations at the heart of the complaint have not been proven in court.