Kenya freezes $751,853 in USDT amid Binance wallet probe

Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has frozen a total of $888,030 tied to two residents as part of an inquiry into an alleged $2.32 million money-laundering operation. The seized assets include $751,853 in USDT linked to Glory Kithure, $896 in USDT linked to Michael Machimbo, and about $135,000 split across nine bank accounts at more than five Kenyan banks.

Court documents describe two parallel channels used to obscure the origin of funds. The first channel involved international remittances sent into Kenya through intermediaries and firms before being deposited into local bank accounts. Court records name intermediaries including Justice Gaturu and Richard Mwangi and companies identified as DigitalMall Global Ltd. and Bitflux Fintech Ltd.

Between October 2022 and January 2024, investigators found roughly $620,000 flowed into Machimbo’s Equity Bank accounts from an individual identified as Michael and another intermediary, Kevin Kipngeno. Filings also show about $130,000 was transferred to Machimbo’s Stanbic Bank account from Bitflux Fintech Ltd. during the same period.

For Kithure, the ARA documented 57 bank transfers totaling about $412,000 between July 2022 and May 2025. Individual transfers ranged from $77 to about $4,250. Under Kenyan law, cash transactions of $15,000 or more and cross-border transfers of $10,000 or more must be reported to the Financial Reporting Centre. The ARA’s court filings state: “The repeated use of amounts just below the reporting threshold is consistent with the structuring of transactions to avoid regulatory reporting requirements.”

The filings include a November 2023 example in which Gaturu received two payments totaling $7,000 from the U.S. payment platform Chime, then transferred $8,400 in three instalments to an Equity Bank account held by Mwendwa. Investigators say Mwendwa forwarded the funds to Michael, who then dispersed them into Kithure’s account.

The second channel involved tether (USDT) stablecoins moved through multiple Binance exchange accounts. Investigators say routing the stablecoins through several exchange wallets was intended to sever links to the original sources of funds.

ARA submitted a request for mutual legal assistance to the United States in May 2026 to obtain international remittance records. The agency has filed court actions to freeze the identified assets while it continues to trace the full extent of the transactions and pursue related records and accounts. Court filings indicate further seizures or legal actions may follow as additional information is obtained from international partners.