Binance told the Senate its transaction volume with four major Iranian exchanges did not exceed $110,000 last year. Reporting from Fortune and the New York Times traced $1.7 billion in flows from Binance-linked accounts to Iran-linked entities.
Senator Richard Blumenthal now is concerned that the exchange might have misled Congress about that.
In a follow-up letter to Binance co-chief executive (CEO) Richard Teng, Blumenthal expressed his concern that the exchange might have provided “misrepresentations or misleading information to the Subcommittee and to the public.”
Read more: Binance probed by DOJ files lawsuit against WSJ
The senator, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, demands Binance produce documents justifying its prior March 6th response and its $110,000 claim.
The escalation follows weeks of reporting by Fortune’s Leo Schwartz and Ben Weiss, as well as the New York Times. Their investigations traced hundreds of millions in tether (USDT) from Binance accounts to wallets tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Houthis of Yemen.
Separately, Blumenthal’s original February 24 letter also inquired about payments to crew members of Russia’s sanctions-evading oil fleet.
The $110,000 claim versus $1.7 billion in flows
Binance dismissed the allegations on March 6 as “demonstrably false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.”
The exchange said its direct transactions with four Iranian exchanges had fallen to no more than $110,000 across the year. Binance highlighted its proactive work against two intermediaries, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, to limit “indirect exposure to wallet addresses with potential ties to Iran.”
Blumenthal’s new letter questions that corporate framing.
He asks about Fortune’s reporting of a VIP account registered to a 79-year-old Chinese resident moving $439 million in USDT from Binance to an outside wallet. That wallet forwarded most of those funds to Entity A, an intermediary cluster that Fortune identified as Iran-linked. Entity A allegedly has a financial connection with Nobitex, for example, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, as well as IRGC and Houthi wallets.
A second Chinese VIP, an ostensibly 38-year-old woman, allegedly moved nearly $200 million through the same pipeline. Reporters also flagged the possibility that both accounts could have been accessed from the same device.
Worse, Blumenthal’s letter notes that the New York Times reported that Binance labeled some of these accounts with manual instructions, “Don’t block. Internal accounts.”
One Iranian national who sent crypto fees directly to Entity A had appeared in a United Nations Security Council report on smuggling for Iran and North Korea.
Senator gives Binance two weeks to respond
Blumenthal’s letter lays out a timeline of allegations. Binance, the senator says, took two months to respond to law enforcement on Hexa Whale, then took another two months to remove the entity. Blessed Trust, even worse, allegedly lasted at least five months as a Binance vendor despite warnings about its alleged terrorist financing.
The senator now demands exact dates. When did these entities open Binance accounts, start transfers, receive flags from Binance staff, and become subjects of suspicious activity reports to US law enforcement? The senator also asks whether Binance has “removed, weakened, or relaxed any compliance policies” since January 2025.
The letter marks the third major escalation about Binance this year. Blumenthal’s February 24 inquiry called Binance a “repeat offender.” Previously, 11 Senate Democrats urged the Treasury and DOJ to investigate. The Wall Street Journal reported that the DOJ opened a probe into Iran’s use of Binance to evade sanctions.
Binance, meanwhile, has sued the Wall Street Journal for defamation.
The political backdrop makes the compliance issues conspicuous.
President Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) in October 2025 after his guilty plea to Bank Secrecy Act violations. The SEC also voluntarily dismissed its Binance lawsuit in 2025.
Binance then became what Blumenthal called a “vital engine” for World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture. Blumenthal’s February letter noted that the vast majority of WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin sat within Binance accounts.
Abu Dhabi’s MGX settled a $2 billion Binance investment through that USD1 stablecoin.
The price of BNB, the token that Binance issued, is down 31% year to date. Binance equity is not publicly traded.
Blumenthal gave Binance CEO Teng until April 14 to respond.
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