Federal prosecutors in the United States are investigating whether Binance knowingly allowed trading that violated sanctions on Iran, according to reporting cited in the source article. The inquiry is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York together with the Justice Department's criminal division in Washington.
The reported probe follows a civil forfeiture case filed by Manhattan prosecutors in which Binance was identified as the platform allegedly used to move funds tied to Iranian oil sales. No charges against Binance have been announced.
Forfeiture case put Binance at the center of the issue
The immediate backdrop is a $61 million civil forfeiture action brought by the same Manhattan office. In that filing, prosecutors alleged that two Chinese companies used Binance trading accounts to launder more than $1.5 billion in oil proceeds that eventually flowed to the Iranian government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The complaint names Binance as the venue through which the funds were moved, but it does not accuse the exchange itself of wrongdoing. The current criminal inquiry is focused on whether the company knowingly permitted activity that breached U.S. sanctions.
Binance says it blocks sanctioned activity
Binance said it maintains a zero-tolerance policy for sanctions violations and illicit finance, and that it fully cooperates with law enforcement. Chief executive Richard Teng also said the exchange did not allow transactions involving sanctioned individuals.
Those statements are significant because the reported investigation concerns knowledge and compliance, not simply whether Binance's platform appeared in transactions later alleged to be unlawful. At this stage, the source article does not indicate that prosecutors have filed charges.
Earlier internal findings added to scrutiny
The article says the latest inquiry comes after earlier reporting that Binance's internal investigators traced more than $1 billion in Tether moving through the exchange to wallets linked to Iran. That reporting also said several investigators were dismissed.
Binance said it found no evidence that those flows violated sanctions law. Even so, the source article notes that official inquiries have continued.
Why the stakes are unusually high
The matter carries added weight because Binance is not approaching U.S. authorities as a first-time target. In November 2023, the exchange entered a guilty plea over anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations, agreed to a $4.3 billion penalty, and accepted oversight by independent compliance monitors.
If prosecutors ultimately conclude that sanctions breaches continued after that plea, Binance could face claims that it failed to comply with the terms of its earlier settlement. The next confirmed step, however, is still only the investigation itself: the source article reports a continuing probe, not a formal case against the exchange.
Source: www.blockhead.co