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During my time working in the Middle East, I saw firsthand Iran’s role in targeting and killing Americans. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has deliberately and systematically killed thousands of American servicemen and civilians, including my good friends, by funding and directing a network of terrorist organizations that directly benefited enemy states like China and Russia with cheap oil, rocket and drone technology and regional instability.
This proxy war against America is not cheap. Iran spends billions of dollars every year to support foreign terrorism around the world. It is therefore imperative that the United States maintain the integrity of sanctions and military pressure against this rogue regime, especially in light of Iran’s attacks on civilian shipping and energy infrastructure in the Gulf.
Our sanctions starve the Iranian regime of the funds it needs to perpetrate violence and are an important financial tool in the fight against terrorism around the world. That’s why I was happy to see President Donald Trump sign in February 2025 a National Security Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of the Treasury Department to put more economic pressure on Iran.
Congress has also enacted its mandate to empower US courts to contain Iran’s influence. Specifically, these laws empower US courts to enjoin the sale of illegal Iranian goods to countless victims of Iranian terrorism. Under these laws, US terrorist targets have roamed the world in search of hidden Iranian assets, undermining Iran’s commercial operations and money laundering networks.
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Arlington Cemetery is seen before a full procession to mark the centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, November 11, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger/The Pool via AP)
In creating this program, Congress not only provided a path to justice for American families but also deprived Iran of billions of dollars that could have been used to further terrorize innocent Americans and our brave members.
Currently, a group of victims of Iranian terrorism, led by the mother 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz – who was kidnapped in 2007 from his home in the US in Iraq by the Iranian hit squad and briefly handcuffed, beaten and killed – is fighting to hold billions of dollars in Iranian cryptocurrency in federal court.
These Gold Star families submitted to the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York hundreds of pages of expert reports and exhibits showing that approximately $15 billion in Bitcoin was allegedly mined and stored by Iran and the China Investment Development Group to help Iran avoid sanctions. They asked the court to transfer funds to thousands of victims of Iranian terrorism for pending court rulings against Iran.
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Given the clear mandate of Congress and Trump to bend all aspects of national power to the blockade of Iran, I was surprised to see the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., decided to stand up to these Gold Star families.
In public filings, Nocella argues – despite evidence contradicting the Gold Star families’ expert reports and despite his own admission that some Bitcoin was mined in Iran – that the Bitcoin in question does not belong to Iran but is in fact the proceeds of a Southeast Asian fraud center run by Chen Zhi, a Cambodian citizen.
He wants the court to hand over Bitcoin to the United States government, following a civil asset forfeiture process related to Chen’s alleged crimes, rather than to Iranian terrorism victims.
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After decades of brutal Iranian terrorists targeting, torturing and killing our soldiers and innocent civilians, there is no doubt that these funds could be better used to provide justice to the families who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country instead of draining the federal budget.
But the biggest problem with Nocella’s denial that Iran is involved is that it risks the return of billions of dollars to Iran and its terrorist supporters. If Nocella succeeds in convincing the court that Bitcoin is not Iranian, it would mean that it is not subject to US sanctions against Iran. If he continues to lose his money laundering case, the return of Bitcoin to Iran may seem inevitable. This is not abstract; Nocella’s case is unequivocally a disgrace to the justice system and a slap in the face to the families of those who risk their lives in this country.
(Left to right) Spc. Johnathan Chism, Pfc. Shawn Falter, Captain Brian Freeman and 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz was killed in 2007, officials said. (Fox Stories)
According to the terms of Nocella’s forfeiture complaint, Bitcoin was already out of Chen’s control when he committed his criminal fraud, and the complaint lacks evidence linking Chen’s alleged behavior in the United States and Bitcoin.
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The indictment against Chen contains photographs that allegedly show victims being tortured by Chen’s criminal organization. As independent journalists have noted, rather than providing evidence of Chen’s bad deeds, these photos appear to be, among other things, a public viral image of a person who had a serious accident six years ago and a man who got into an unrelated bar fight in 2015. You can’t do this.
As recently announced by the Department of Justice, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has worked in partnership for years with victims of Iranian terrorism to dismantle an Iranian money laundering facility in Manhattan.
Given the clear mandate of Congress and Trump to bend all aspects of national power to the blockade of Iran, I was surprised to see the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., decided to stand up to these Gold Star families.
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But in the Eastern Region, what should be a direct process to get justice for our soldiers is to pay attention to being a national disgrace. Nocella should stop fighting the Gold Star families and let them continue their better researched and documented case against Iran.
At a time when the US is very close to ending this evil regime and negotiations are ongoing for peace in the region, we must do everything we can to keep this money out of the hands of terrorists instead of looking for ways to pack the government’s coffers.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT SEN. TIM SHEEHY
