Binance faces second US probe over Iran-linked crypto trades

US officials are probing Binance again to determine whether the Dubai-based crypto exchange knowingly allowed Iran-linked trades that violated US sanctions against Iran. Bloomberg reported that the Manhattan US attorney's office and the Justice Department's Washington arm are leading the investigation. Binance told Bloomberg that it does not tolerate sanctions violations, fully cooperates with law enforcement and remains committed to identifying and shutting down bad actors. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Forbes reported that two Chinese companies traded billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency on Binance as part of a plan to evade sanctions and allow Iran to continue selling oil. Binance called those reports defamatory. In March, the Justice Department reportedly began an investigation into Binance over the Iran-linked funds. Binance sued The Wall Street Journal for defamation that same month. Earlier this month, the US government seized and planned to forfeit $61 million worth of frozen USDT that was allegedly part of Iran's oil trading. The government claimed that the enterprise generated $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency proceeds for Iran's military and nuclear program.