The U.S. Department of Justice has filed civil forfeiture lawsuits against a batch of frozen USDT, involving an amount of approximately $61.2 million. The prosecution alleges that these funds are related to the sale of Iranian black market oil, with some of it flowing to entities alleged to be associated with the Iranian government and military.
Case documents show that the relevant assets are distributed across 10 TRON addresses. Tether has frozen these wallets, holding a total of 61,192,367.59 USDT. On September 14th, a U.S. judge issued a seizure order allowing FBI to take control of the relevant assets.
Fund Flow and Allegations
The prosecution stated that at least 7 associated wallets were tracked to have over $1.5 billion in capital flows during the investigation. The United States believes that these funds originated from the sale of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products and were used to support sanctioned networks.
The indictment also mentioned that some transactions were conducted through Hong Kong companies and the Binance account. The prosecution stated that these companies were described in the documents as wealth management or commodity brokerage firms, but in reality, they were involved in the conversion of relevant funds.
Freezing and Seizure Procedures
Court documents show that funds at 10 addresses were frozen before the lawsuit was filed. Two of these addresses were frozen as early as June 2025, two more in July, and the rest have also been secured.
An attachment order issued on September 14 authorized FBI to transfer assets to a wallet under government control. The document states that Tether is expected to destroy the tokens in the original address and issue an equivalent substitute USDT, which will then be handed over to the U.S. government.
The United States continues to expand law enforcement efforts.
This case continues the United States' crackdown on Iranian digital asset channels. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Nobitex and other Iranian trading platforms, alleging that they handled transactions related to sanctioned entities.
On the same day, the U.S. Treasury Department also launched “Operation Economic Outcast”, bringing overseas companies, financial channels, and digital asset activities within the scope of its crackdown.
