U.S. Seeks Forfeiture of $61 Million in Cryptocurrency Linked to Iranian Oil Sales Laundered by Chinese Companies
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize over $61 million in cryptocurrency. These funds are alleged to be proceeds from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. The complaint details that Tehran utilized a network of cryptocurrency actors, including two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money. This money was intended to benefit the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, financing the Iranian government and its military components. The Chinese companies reportedly used trading accounts on the Binance crypto exchange to facilitate these transactions, funneling funds to the Iranian government and its proxies for terrorist and other activities. Both Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, which represent themselves as wealth management or virtual asset custodial services firms, allegedly provided 'on-ramp' services to exchange fiat...
