U.S. seeks to seize $61 million of crypto it claims are proceeds from Iranian petroleum sales to Chinese buyers

The U.S. has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against $61 million in cryptocurrency that it alleges proceeds from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. The complaint, brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, alleged Tehran used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and elsewhere to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money intended to benefit the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These proceeds were intended to finance the Iranian government and military components.