- A $61 million civil forfeiture case filed by the US DOJ mentioned Binance as a trading venue for illicit crypto money laundering activities linked to the Iranian government and the IRGC.
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is once again in hot water as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a case alleging its links to sanctioned entities. Through the Deputy United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the agency sought a $61 million civil forfeiture against the involved parties.
The US DOJ Probe on Binance
According to the DOJ, Binance has been facilitating transactions funneled by the Iranian government and its military component, including the terror-designated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), through Chinese companies. It named Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale as Iran’s proxies for accessing legitimate, regulated markets.
The DOJ accused the exchange of hosting the Chinese companies’ trading accounts, which the sanctioned entities used to launder black-market sales of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. Additionally, it claimed that Iran utilized the proceeds of the illicit activities to fund “hostile military action and terrorist attacks against the US” and its allies.
Investigators estimated that Iran has already converted up to $1.5 billion in illicit oil money across a network of cryptocurrency actors, with most of these located in China. They didn’t specify how much dirty money went through Binance’s rails, though.
Nonetheless, Binance denied any involvement with sanctioned entities, highlighting its zero-tolerance policy against such matters. It committed to cooperating with law enforcement to track and block bad actors operating in its ecosystem.
$61 Million Forfeiture
The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize more than $61 million of money belonging to the Iranian government. It argued that the funds would have been used for terrorism financing against the US and its allies if not acted upon appropriately.
Although Blessed Trust was registered as a wealth manager or virtual asset custodial firm, investigators found that it offered on-ramp services to convert fiat currency into crypto. The agency even discovered that the entity employed US-based crypto issuers to carry out its illegal activities.
Meanwhile, Hexa Whale marketed itself as a commodities brokering company. In reality, however, it offered services similar to Blessed Trust. They also had direct dealings and shared the same affiliates. Among their clients were companies in China’s petroleum and petroleum products sector.
