Federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into whether Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, deliberately permitted transactions that violated U.S. sanctions targeting Iran. Bloomberg first disclosed the probe on September 22, 2026, marking a significant development nearly three years after the exchange's $4.3 billion federal resolution in 2023.

The investigation is being spearheaded by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, with additional support from the Criminal Division of the Justice Department in Washington. Authorities are scrutinizing the exchange's internal oversight mechanisms and seeking to establish whether company officials had knowledge of the questionable transactions. That knowledge question is the crux of the matter: establishing it would separate deliberate violations from oversight lapses, and it is also what distinguishes this criminal inquiry from the parallel civil case, which targets tokens held in specific wallets rather than the exchange itself.

Binance issued an immediate public statement addressing the matter. Company representatives emphasized the exchange's strict enforcement policy regarding sanctions compliance and confirmed that the company is providing full cooperation with federal investigators.

The report was shared on X by cryptocurrency news account Wu Blockchain:

Breaking: U.S. Prosecutors Probe Binance Over Possible Iran Sanctions Violations U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, violated U.S. sanctions on Iran by knowingly certain transactions to proceed, Bloomberg… pic.twitter.com/P1VBmC1Jfu

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 22, 2026

Civil Seizure Action Targeting $61 Million

In a related development that provides additional context to the Iran-related accusations, federal authorities filed a civil forfeiture action on September 14 — eight days before Bloomberg disclosed the criminal probe. The Southern District of New York submitted a complaint seeking control of roughly $61 million in USDT distributed across 10 distinct cryptocurrency wallets.

According to federal prosecutors, the digital assets originated from unauthorized black-market sales of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. The proceeds were allegedly earmarked to support Iranian governmental and military operations, including funding for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The legal filing identifies two Chinese corporate entities, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, as account holders. Federal authorities claim both organizations maintained active trading accounts on Binance while processing revenues connected to Iranian petroleum commerce.

Notably, the civil forfeiture action does not formally charge Binance with criminal conduct. The government's complaint specifically targets the digital currency contained in the identified wallets rather than the exchange platform itself.

Federal prosecutors assert that an extensive network of cryptocurrency intermediaries processed more than $1.5 billion in unlawful oil revenues in total. Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale purportedly exploited American financial infrastructure to transfer or collect tens of millions of dollars in proceeds.

The digital holdings are identified as USDT operating on the TRON blockchain. According to the filing, Tether would destroy the tokens pursuant to a seizure order and create replacement tokens for possession by the government — a process executed at the token level on-chain rather than through a traditional account freeze.

Binance's Account and Defensive Position

Binance offered its own account of how it handled the two Chinese companies. The platform stated that law enforcement agencies made contact in April 2025 regarding transactions potentially connected to terrorism financing. The exchange delivered documentation relating to Hexa Whale in June 2025 and terminated that account on August 13, 2025.

According to Binance, Blessed Trust was removed from the platform in January 2026 following an internal investigation into the origin of its funds. The company asserts it found no indication that any account on its platform engaged in direct transactions with entities based in Iran.

The exchange's internal analysis determined that approximately $126.1 million ultimately transferred to Iran-linked wallets after numerous blockchain transfers. Within that total, up to $24.1 million reportedly reached wallets associated with the IRGC. That routing sits at the center of the dispute: Binance reports no direct transactions with Iran-based entities on its platform, while the funds it traced ultimately reached Iran-linked and IRGC-associated wallets after numerous transfers.

In its defense, the platform highlights the substantial compliance infrastructure it has built. Binance reports employing more than 1,500 compliance specialists, representing roughly 25% of its total global staff, and states that it handled more than 71,000 requests from law enforcement agencies throughout 2025.

Background: 2023 Resolution

The new investigation follows Binance's November 2023 guilty plea to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and breaches of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, one of the primary statutes under which U.S. economic sanctions are enforced — placing the current Iran-focused inquiry on the same statutory ground as the exchange's earlier admissions. That $4.3 billion resolution mandated the appointment of an independent compliance monitor for a three-year period, a window that extends into late 2026, meaning the new probe surfaced before that oversight period had run its course.

The civil forfeiture proceeding in the Southern District of New York continues to move forward. All accusations against the parties involved remain legally unsubstantiated pending a judicial determination in favor of the government. For the criminal probe, the pivotal question ahead is whether prosecutors can establish that company officials knew of the flagged transactions.

Source: Blockonomi