DOJ moves to seize $61M in crypto it ties to Iranian black-market oil

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint on Monday, September 14, seeking to seize roughly $61 million in cryptocurrency it says represents proceeds from Iran's black-market sales of sanctioned crude oil and petroleum products, according to CoinDesk, which reviewed the DOJ's statement on the filing.

Prosecutors allege the $61 million is a slice of a larger $1.5 billion network — referred to internally in the complaint as "Entity A" — that moved oil proceeds through unhosted crypto wallets, an Iranian crypto exchange, and wallets and businesses tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The funds, the DOJ says, were bound for the Iranian government and its military.

Two Chinese companies are named as the primary facilitators. Blessed Trust, which markets itself as a digital-asset custody firm and offered a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp (at times using U.S.-based stablecoin issuers), and Hexa Whale, which the DOJ says posed as a commodities brokerage, allegedly coordinated most of the transfers and ran them through trading accounts on Binance before routing the money back to Iran, per CoinDesk's account of the filing. Both firms counted Chinese oil companies among their clients.

Binance, in a statement to CoinDesk, said it "has zero tolerance for sanctions violations or illicit activity" and "did not permit any transactions with sanctioned individuals," adding that it is cooperating with law enforcement and will restrict, freeze, or offboard accounts where risk is identified. Binance is not named as a defendant.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley framed the action as depriving Iran and "its terrorist proxies" of illegal funding. A forfeiture complaint is a civil filing, not a criminal conviction — the allegations are unproven, and no charges against individuals were described.

Key facts

• Amount sought: ~$61 million in crypto (DOJ civil forfeiture complaint, filed Sept. 14, 2026, via CoinDesk).
• Alleged broader network: $1.5 billion, dubbed "Entity A" (DOJ, via CoinDesk).
• Named facilitators: Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, both Chinese firms (DOJ, via CoinDesk).
• Venue for the alleged laundering: Binance trading accounts (DOJ, via CoinDesk).
• Recipient alleged: Iranian government, military, and the IRGC (DOJ, via CoinDesk).

The real-world read

This is one source reporting one side's account — the government's own statement on its own filing. The $61 million and $1.5 billion figures, the "Entity A" label, and the roles assigned to Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale are all DOJ allegations that a court has not tested. Binance's carefully worded denial is a corporate statement of an interested party; note it addresses policy ("did not permit") rather than whether the accounts in question actually transacted before detection. CoinDesk's own framing that Iran "has reportedly been using crypto to bypass the blockade" is attributed loosely ("reportedly") and not to a named source. The underlying DOJ complaint would be the primary document; the specifics here come secondhand through CoinDesk.

This is news reporting, not financial or legal advice.

Sources

• CoinDesk (Tier 2, secondary), Sept. 15, 2026 — reported the DOJ civil forfeiture complaint, the $61M and $1.5B figures, the "Entity A" network, the named Chinese firms, and Binance's emailed statement; itself citing the DOJ's statement and a Binance spokesperson. Not marketing.