US DOJ seeks forfeiture of $61M in crypto tied to Iranian oil sales laundered through Binance accounts

The US Department of Justice wants $61 million back. On September 14, 2026, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint targeting roughly $61 million in crypto assets allegedly connected to Iran’s black-market oil trade. The funds, prosecutors say, moved through trading accounts on Binance controlled by two China-based firms: Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale. Binance is not named as a defendant in this complaint. The DOJ’s crosshairs are trained specifically on the two Chinese entities and their assets, not the platform itself. How the alleged scheme worked According to the complaint, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale misrepresented their operations to financial institutions, presenting themselves as legitimate trading businesses while allegedly serving as conduits for Iranian oil money. The $61 million being sought is a slice of a much larger operation. Prosecutors allege the broader network laundered over $1.5 billion in proceeds from Iranian oil sales, with funds allegedly routed to entities connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US government designates as a terrorist organization. Operation Economic Outcast an...