DOJ Seeks $61M in Iranian Oil Proceeds Laundered Through Binance Accounts
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’s government.
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.
It comes after the U.S. tries to crack down on Iran’s 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’s stablecoin; Iran started a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its counties shipping companies earlier this year.
There was no mention of bitcoin in Monday’s claim — 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’t be frozen
“The 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,” Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley said in a statement.
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