U.S. moves to seize $61 million in crypto linked to sanctioned Iranian oil sales

What prosecutors allege

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York brought a civil forfeiture complaint seeking more than $61 million in cryptocurrency that it says traces back to illicit sales of sanctioned Iranian oil and petroleum products. Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley said, "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 U.S. and our allies."

According to the filing, Tehran leveraged a network of cryptocurrency intermediaries in China and elsewhere to launder over $1.5 billion in oil proceeds. The funds were earmarked to back Iran's government and its military arms, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Who is named and how it allegedly worked

The complaint names two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, alleging they used trading accounts at Binance to process proceeds from black-market oil sales and route the money to Iran's government, its operatives, and proxy organizations, where they were used to advance terrorism and other actions undertaken by the Iranian state.

The complaint states that Blessed Trust received and transferred the proceeds and offered fiat-to-crypto on-ramp services, including by using U.S.-based cryptocurrency issuers. It further alleges Hexa Whale provided comparable services and worked with Blessed Trust and related entities. "Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale have also used the U.S. financial system to send or receive tens of millions of dollars as part of this scheme," the complaint alleged. Both companies count customers operating in China's oil and refined-products industry.