{"id":6959,"date":"2026-02-25T06:54:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6959"},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:54:39","slug":"us-democrats-probe-binance-amid-1-7-billion-iranian-sanctions-evasion-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6959","title":{"rendered":"US Democrats Probe Binance Amid $1.7 Billion Iranian Sanctions Evasion Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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  • US Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has written to Binance CEO Richard Teng amid concerns the crypto exchange is involved in Iranian sanction violations totalling US$1.7 billion.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The letter follows the publication of reports in the <\/span>Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> alleging Binance has been facilitating the funding of Iranian government entities and terrorist groups through its partners Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The reports also allege Binance fired or suspended some of the members of its internal investigations team who raised these concerns, claims refuted by the exchange. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Concerns have been raised that Binance crypto exchange, through some of its partners, appears to have facilitated Iranian sanctions violations and provided support to terrorist groups, allowing over US$1.7 billion (AUD$2.4 billion) to illegally flow to Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Democratic Senator and Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), Senator Richard Blumenthal, addressed the matter in an open letter to Binance CEO, Richard Teng.<\/p>\n

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    Binance appears to have ignored clear warning signs, knowingly allowed illicit accounts to operate, and even provided hands-on support to entities engaged in money laundering.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Blumenthal\u2019s letter followed the publication of reports earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and New York Times (NYT) that Binance\u2019s internal investigators late last year identified breaches of Iranian sanctions and failures of anti-money laundering measures by Binance partners Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The reports also claimed that investigators identified over 2,000 Iranian Binance accounts, despite restrictions around providing financial services to Iran and Binance\u2019s own claim that it has banned Iranian users.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Several of the staff who discovered these breaches were reportedly suspended or fired by Binance.<\/p>\n

    Documents cited by the NYT and WSJ also indicate that Binance, through Hexa Whale, was helping to finance terrorist groups, including the Houthis in Yemen. Binance\u2019s internal investigatory team also found evidence of cryptocurrency transfers to wallets linked to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and payments to crew members of Russia\u2019s sanctions-evading oil tankers.<\/p>\n

    In his letter, Sen. Blumenthal claimed that Binance ignored advice from its investigatory team to strengthen its know-your-customer (KYC) requirements and rejected \u201cattempts to detect and stop evasion of American and international sanctions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The Senator also dubbed the crypto exchange a \u201crepeat offender,\u201d referring to its previous anti-money laundering breaches, which saw its CEO Changpeng Zhao jailed and the exchange required to pay fines totalling over US$4 billion (AU$5.6 billion).<\/p>\n

    Sen. Blumenthal wrote that Binance\u2019s seeming unwillingness to heed the advice of its own internal team suggests the exchange is not committed to following US laws or the terms of the agreement it made with the US government following its earlier breaches.<\/p>\n

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    The scale of the newly-revealed illicit transfers \u2014 uncaught until nearly two billion dollars flowed to sanctioned entities \u2014 and the unexplained firing of internal investigators call into question Binance\u2019s compliance with American sanctions and banking laws, and its 2023 agreement to resolve the previous federal investigation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Sen. Blumenthal also highlighted the tight relationship between the Trump family\u2019s DeFi project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI) and Binance, writing that following \u201ca deal between WLFI and Emirati Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Binance became a \u2018vital engine\u2019 and a promotion agent for WLFI,\u201d and adding that Binance now holds \u201cabout 85 percent of WLFI\u2019s stablecoins (USD1)\u2026making the Trump family cryptocurrency ventures tightly bound to Binance.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The Democratic Senator called on Binance to release all its internal records relating to transactions involving Iranian entities and individuals, crew members of the Russian oil tankers, use of USDT and UDS1 to evade sanctions or fund criminal activity, and records relating to the suspension or dismissal of its internal investigation team.<\/p>\n

    Related: USD1 Briefly Slips Below Peg as World Liberty Alleges Market Manipulation<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Binance Refutes Claims, Says Compliance \u201cBest-In-Class\u201d<\/h2>\n

    In a blog post published following the initial reporting from the NYT and WSJ, Binance refuted the claims, saying their compliance program is \u201cbest-in-class,\u201d and claiming media reports present a \u201cdistorted, jumbled account that relies on false claims by disgruntled former employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Binance argued that in all forms of global finance \u201cbad actors present risk,\u201d but that it had taken significant steps to tighten its compliance systems since being found guilty of sanctions evasions and money laundering in 2023.<\/p>\n

    Related: Stablecoin Outflows Slow to $2B as Capital Consolidates on Binance<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The exchange claimed that it had instituted expanded \u201csanctions screening and transaction monitoring controls,\u201d and invested hundreds of millions in toughening its compliance systems, which it said has resulted in a 96.8% decrease in its \u201csanctions-related exposure,\u201d between January 2024 and July 2025.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWith respect to the cases described in recent false reporting, our compliance process was, in fact, effective,\u201d Binance claimed in the blog post.<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe will continue to use our compliance program to protect our users, cooperate with law enforcement, and advance our mission to provide the core infrastructure services for organizing the world\u2019s crypto.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    Binance,Iran,Law#Democrats #Probe #Binance #Billion #Iranian #Sanctions #Evasion #Allegations1772002479<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    US Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has written to Binance CEO Richard Teng amid concerns the crypto exchange is involved in Iranian sanction violations totalling US$1.7 billion. The letter follows the publication of reports in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times alleging Binance has been facilitating the funding of Iranian government entities and terrorist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2802,277,361,2245,2801,2800,1265,1353],"class_list":{"0":"post-6959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin","8":"tag-allegations","9":"tag-billion","10":"tag-binance","11":"tag-democrats","12":"tag-evasion","13":"tag-iranian","14":"tag-probe","15":"tag-sanctions"},"yoast_head":"\nUS Democrats Probe Binance Amid $1.7 Billion Iranian Sanctions Evasion Allegations - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Democrats Probe Binance Amid $1.7 Billion Iranian Sanctions Evasion Allegations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"US Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has written to Binance CEO Richard Teng amid concerns the crypto exchange is involved in Iranian sanction violations totalling US$1.7 billion. 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