The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to forfeit $61 million in cryptocurrency obtained from the sale of sanctioned Iranian oil through Binance.

Chinese companies Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale used trading accounts on the crypto exchange to launder proceeds generated on the black market. These funds were then redirected to the Iranian government and its proxies.

Blessed Trust provides digital asset custody services and fiat-to-crypto conversion for transactions linked to the regime. Hexa Whale provides similar services. Among the clients of both companies were Chinese oil firms.

The Justice Department found that $1.5 billion in oil revenues passed through crypto addresses linked to the IRGC. These transfers were mostly carried out by Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale.