The United States is seizing $61 million worth of cryptocurrency connected to an alleged scheme that laundered funds through Binance to facilitate black-market sales of Iranian oil, according to a civil forfeiture complaint filed recently.
The complaint alleges that the sale of Iranian crude oil has generated over $1.5 billion in illicit cryptocurrency proceeds, which the US claims help fund Iran's nuclear program and military operations.
Companies named in complaint
Two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, are identified in the complaint as allegedly central to transferring and managing the funds. According to US authorities, these companies used Binance to launder the proceeds and distribute them to Iran's government and related proxies.
The civil forfeiture complaint does not name Binance as a defendant or allege wrongdoing by the exchange.
Media reporting and Binance response
Alleged links between Iran and the two Chinese companies were first publicly disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and the New York Times in February. In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran-linked funds continued moving through Binance in 2026.
That report identified a major Iranian financier who allegedly used Binance to move $850 million worth of transactions in 2024 and 2025.
Binance has disputed these reports as inaccurate and filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal in May, the same month the Department of Justice launched a probe into the transfers on the exchange.
The reporting has prompted US senators to question whether Binance misrepresented facts before Congress and whether the exchange has complied with anti-money laundering requirements.
