DOJ Seeks $61M USDT Tied to Iranian Oil Sales

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York filed a verified civil forfeiture complaint, 26 Civ. 8010, seeking approximately 61,192,367.59 USDT held in ten Tron addresses already frozen by Tether. The Block (Danny Park, 15 September 2026), CNBC, CoinDesk, and Cointelegraph reported the filing.

This is an in rem civil forfeiture complaint. The allegations are not proven until a court enters judgment for the United States. A seizure warrant issued on or about 14 September 2026 by Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang authorizes FBI custody.

The complaint alleges the tokens are proceeds of black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products to buyers in China, intended to finance Iran's government and military, including the IRGC, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Deputy US Attorney Sean S. Buckley said the action is meant to deprive Iran and its proxies of that money.

Prosecutors say a set of interrelated unhosted addresses, labeled Entity A, received and distributed more than $1.5 billion of illicit Iranian oil proceeds. Two Hong Kong companies, Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited, allegedly used Binance trading accounts to launder and funnel funds.

Blessed Trust presents as digital-asset custodial or wealth management. Hexa Whale presents as a commodities brokerage. Clients include Chinese petroleum companies.

The complaint says Tether burns the tokens at the target addresses and issues equal-value replacements transferred to an FBI-controlled hardware wallet in the Southern District. Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale allegedly also used the US financial system to send or receive tens of millions of dollars.

A Binance spokesperson said the exchange has zero tolerance for sanctions violations, did not permit transactions with sanctioned individuals, and will cooperate, freeze, offboard, and report. CNBC said Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale could not be reached for comment.

Related Iran and stablecoin tape includes Bessent's large-bank Iran sanction warning, Treasury's Golden Global Bank designation, and Treasury's GENIUS Act stablecoin proposal.

Compliance, exchange, and stablecoin desks should treat USDT freezes plus SDNY Iran-oil forfeiture complaints as live sanctions-evasion risk on China teapot and refinery rails, and review exposure to Hong Kong broker and custodial fronts using Binance on-ramps.