US prosecutors are seeking to seize approximately $61 million in Tether’s USDT linked to alleged black-market Iranian crude and petroleum sales. The Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture complaint on Sept. 14 covering about 61.2 million USDT held across 10 Tron addresses. Tether had already frozen seven addresses in June 2025 and three more in July, while a seizure warrant issued this week authorizes federal agents to transfer the value into government custody. The process depends on Tether’s control of USDT: under the complaint, it would burn the frozen tokens and issue replacements of equal value to an FBI-controlled hardware wallet, allowing authorities to take custody without obtaining the original wallets’ private keys. The case highlights how issuer-controlled stablecoins (digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value) can serve as enforcement chokepoints after authorities identify funds for restraint. Prosecutors allege the funds benefited Iran’s government and military, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and said a broader network known as Entity A handled more than $1.5 billion in alleged illicit Iranian oil-sale proceeds. The network allegedly involved Iran-based exchange Nobitex, Middle Eastern money transmitters believed to be IRGC fronts, and Hong Kong-incorporated Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited, which allegedly helped convert fiat proceeds into cryptocurrency and move them through Binance accounts. Binance is not accused of wrongdoing. Chief Executive Richard Teng said the exchange had zero tolerance for sanctions violations and illicit activity and had cooperated with law enforcement. Days before the Iran filing, the Justice Department credited Tether with helping in a separate action involving more than $52 million linked to alleged money-laundering marketplace Xinbi Guarantee. Tether says it has worked with more than 340 law-enforcement agencies across 67 countries and helped freeze more than $5 billion tied to suspected illicit activity.