{"id":227836,"date":"2026-09-15T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=227836"},"modified":"2026-09-15T15:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:45:42","slug":"doj-seeks-61m-in-iranian-oil-proceeds-laundered-through-binance-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/?p=227836","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Seeks $61M in Iranian Oil Proceeds Laundered Through Binance Accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

DOJ Seeks $61M in Iranian Oil Proceeds Laundered Through Binance Accounts<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice said<\/a> Monday that it had filed to forfeit $61 million in crypto generated from oil sales linked to Iran\u2019s government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iran used Chinese entities who, via accounts on crypto exchange Binance, funneled over $1.5 billion in oil proceeds to the Middle Eastern country, U.S. prosecutors allege.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It comes after the U.S. tries to crack down on Iran\u2019s use of the leading cryptocurrency: the U.S. in July said that it had frozen crypto linked to the Iranian regime, mostly in the form of Tether\u2019s stablecoin; Iran started<\/a> a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its counties shipping companies earlier this year.<\/p>\n

There was no mention of bitcoin in Monday\u2019s claim \u2014 but the Iranian government is also using bitcoin to skirt around sanctions. Bitcoin has no issuer, so no blacklist function and bitcoin held without intermediaries can\u2019t be frozen<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government of Iran relies on black-market sales of sanctioned crude oil to fund its military and foster terrorism in the Middle East and around the world, along with other malign efforts to develop a nuclear program and ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear payloads,\u201d Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs alleged in the complaint filed today, the Government of Iran used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and elsewhere to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money intended to benefit the Iranian military and the terror-designated IRGC.\u201d<\/p>\n

The filing alleges that the illicit oil money was laundered via Chinese companies Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited.<\/p>\n

Once the money was laundered, it was funneled back to Iran\u2019s government, its agents, and its proxies, feds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control in July said Iran had been dodging sanctions by accepting pay in bitcoin from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

OFAC said at the time that Hormuz Safe, developed by Iran\u2019s Ministry of Economy, \u201caccepts payment in bitcoin and other digital assets\u201d so it can bypass sanctions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Financial Times last week reported<\/a> that the Middle Eastern country was using bitcoin to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges after the central bank advised its countrymen to do anything necessary to help the economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This post DOJ Seeks $61M in Iranian Oil Proceeds Laundered Through Binance Accounts<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Mathew Di Salvo<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine DOJ Seeks $61M in Iranian Oil Proceeds Laundered Through Binance Accounts The U.S. Department of Justice said Monday that it had filed to forfeit $61 million in crypto generated from oil sales linked to Iran\u2019s government.\u00a0 Iran used Chinese entities who, via accounts on crypto exchange Binance, funneled over $1.5 billion in oil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":227837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/227837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}