US prosecutors seek to confiscate $61 million in cryptocurrency for illegal oil sales in Iran

The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI's New York Field Office have filed a civil confiscation lawsuit against approximately $61 million in cryptocurrency. The prosecutor claimed that these funds were proceeds from the black market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, used to fund the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The prosecutor accuses the Iranian government of using cryptocurrency networks to launder over $1.5 billion in illegal oil funds, while Blessing Trust and Hexa Whale use Binance trading accounts located in the United Arab Emirates to launder money and transfer funds to the Iranian government and its agents or agencies.