US DOJ Seeks $61 Million in Crypto Tied to Illicit Iranian Oil Sales
Black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products are a major source of funding for Tehran and its military apparatus. Washington has increasingly used sanctions, blockchain tracing and asset forfeiture to disrupt those flows. The case highlights how cryptocurrency exchanges, conversion services and unhosted wallets can be used to move oil revenue across borders and obscure links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US designates as a foreign terrorist organization.
The US Department of Justice and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint on Sept. 14, 2026, seeking about $61 million in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors allege China-based Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale used Binance trading accounts and fiat-to-crypto services to launder proceeds for Iran and its proxies. Investigators also identified interconnected unhosted wallet addresses that allegedly received and distributed more than $1.5 billion from illicit Iranian oil sales.
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The history behind this eventBinance Denies Firing Investigators Who Uncovered Iran-Linked Fund Flows
Binance pleaded guilty to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering and sanctions rules and paid $4.3 billion in penalties. Founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, also stepped down as CEO. The latest controversy over Iran-linked fund flows is therefore particularly sensitive, raising questions about whether Binance has fully completed its compliance overhaul and whether sanctioned entities can continue using its platform.
The New York Times reported on February 23, 2026, that investigators found about $1.7 billion flowing from two Binance accounts to Iran-linked entities between 2024 and 2025. At least four people involved in the investigation were subsequently suspended or dismissed. Binance denied that the actions were connected. On May 22, Richard Teng also rejected a separate Wall Street Journal claim involving $850 million in Iran-linked flows, while CZ publicly backed him.
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