TLDR U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint for $61.2 million in USDT held across ten TRON addresses. The funds are allegedly linked to black-market Iranian oil sales tied to Ira
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil forfeiture complaint targeting $61.2 million in USDT. Prosecutors say the funds came from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian oil.
The case was filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on September 14. It names ten TRON addresses holding the frozen USDT.
Prosecutors allege the money was meant to benefit Iran’s government and its military branches. That includes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.
The complaint names two Hong Kong companies, Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited. Both allegedly used trading accounts on Binance to convert oil sale proceeds into crypto.
Blessed Trust presented itself as a wealth management and digital asset custody firm. Hexa Whale presented itself as a commodities broker, according to the filing.
Investigators say a group of linked wallets, called “Entity A,” received and sent out more than $1.5 billion. That money allegedly came from Iranian oil and petroleum sales.
The complaint states that Entity A sent funds to Nobitex, an Iranian crypto exchange. It also allegedly sent money to IRGC-linked wallets and transmitters that investigators identified as IRGC fronts.
One address was tied to a network connected to Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned that company in 2023 for helping sell Iranian oil abroad.
The ten TRON addresses were frozen before the complaint was filed. Two were frozen in July 2025, and eight more were frozen in June 2025.
Balances on the addresses ranged from 1 million USDT to more than 12.75 million USDT. Tether had frozen all ten by the time prosecutors filed the case.
A seizure warrant signed on September 14 lets the FBI take control of the assets. Tether is expected to burn the tokens and issue replacement USDT of equal value.
That replacement USDT will go into an FBI-controlled hardware wallet in New York. Seizure and forfeiture are separate legal steps, with forfeiture requiring a court to award ownership to the government.
Prosecutors also allege a Hong Kong company sent about $37.15 million to Hexa Whale in March and April 2024. Another $443.49 million allegedly moved from that company to Blessed Trust between November 2024 and March 2025.
Some of those transfers allegedly passed through U.S. correspondent bank accounts. The government says the companies did not have licenses from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for the transactions.
Binance responded to earlier versions of these allegations in March. The exchange called related media claims false and said it had removed both companies after internal reviews.
Binance said it offboarded Hexa Whale in August 2025 and removed Blessed Trust in January 2026. The exchange said no account had transacted directly with an Iran-based entity, to its knowledge.
The new complaint is directed at the USDT in the ten wallets. It does not bring a criminal charge against Binance.
This case follows a string of U.S. actions against Iranian crypto use in 2026. In June, OFAC sanctioned Nobitex and three other Iranian exchanges over ties to the IRGC.
Treasury launched a wider campaign in August called Operation Economic Outcast, targeting oil, shipping and crypto channels linked to Iran. On September 14, Treasury also sanctioned Russia’s VTB Bank over alleged Iranian sanctions evasion, in a separate action.
The post DOJ Files $61 Million Forfeiture Case Over Iran Oil Crypto Proceeds appeared first on Blockonomi.
