President Trump pardoned the exchange's founder last year after he pled guilty to violating anti-money-laundering laws. The US Department of Justice is accusing several companies of using Binance to send money to Iran to fund its military, per The Wall Street Journal. Prosecutors disclosed Binance's alleged role in a forfeiture complaint seeking to seize $61 million of cryptocurrency. In total, around $1.5 billion was sent via interrelated digital wallets.

Two Hong Kong-based companies, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, acted as intermediaries to sell black-market Iranian oil to Chinese buyers. Binance's internal investigators found the entities moved money through the exchange to a network funding Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The US Attorney's Office said the companies used "Binance to conduct cryptocurrency transactions representing the proceeds of black-market sales of Iranian oil to buyers in China." Some money went through the US financial system before reaching Iran.

Binance removed both entities, though Blessed Trust was a business partner providing payment services. It also fired investigators who found the transactions, citing "individual circumstances."

This follows Binance's 2023 guilty plea for violating anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws, with billions in fines. Founder Changpeng Zhao served four months and was pardoned by President Trump. Binance was recently accused of allowing Iranian financier Babak Zanjani to send over $850 million to fund Iran's war chest; he denies it.