The CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, publicly clarified that the civil forfeiture action filed by the United States Department of Justice does not target the exchange nor accuse it of any wrongdoing.
The complaint, brought by prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, seeks to recover approximately $61 million in cryptocurrencies that the U.S. government links to Iranian oil sales on the black market.
As Bloomberg's article notes, this case was not filed against @binance and does not allege any wrongdoing by Binance.
Let me be clear: We have zero tolerance for sanctions violations or illicit activity, and we did not permit any transactions with sanctioned individuals.
We… https://t.co/sNZmZv1ep8
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) September 15, 2026
The direct targets are two Chinese firms: Blessed Trust, presented as a wealth management company, and Hexa Whale, which operates as a commodities broker. Both are accused of having converted cash into crypto assets for clients tied to the Iranian regime, using Binance accounts as a channel.
“This case was not brought against Binance and does not allege any wrongdoing on our part,” Teng wrote on X, underscoring that the exchange has zero tolerance for sanctions violations.
The $61 million is just a fraction of a much larger scheme: investigators identified self-custody wallets that moved more than $1.5 billion in illicit Iranian funds, with destinations that include addresses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Binance remains under a three-year compliance monitoring process, the result of its 2023 guilty plea on charges related to money laundering and sanctions evasion, which cost it $4.3 billion in penalties.
Source: https://x.com/_RichardTeng/status/2099790683368530150
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