During my time in the Middle East, I witnessed firsthand Iran’s role in systematically targeting and killing Americans. For 47 years, the Iranian regime has deliberately and systematically killed thousands of American service members and civilians, including close friends of mine, by financing and directing a network of proxy terrorist organizations that have directly benefited hostile states like China and Russia with cheap oil, missile and drone technology, and regional instability.
This proxy war against America is not cheap. Iran spends billions of dollars every year supporting foreign terrorism around the world. It is therefore critical that the United States maintain the integrity of its 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 deprive the Iranian regime of the resources it needs to commit violence and are a crucial financial tool for the global fight against terrorism. That’s why I was pleased that President Donald Trump signed a presidential national security memorandum in February 2025 directing the Treasury Secretary to exert maximum economic pressure on Iran.
Congress has also acted within its authority to use the power of U.S. courts to curb Iran’s influence. In particular, these laws give U.S. courts the authority to order the transfer of illegal Iranian assets to the countless victims of Iranian terrorism. Under these laws, U.S. victims of terrorism have scoured the world for hidden Iranian assets, affecting Iran’s commercial undercover operations and money laundering networks.
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Arlington Cemetery is seen prior to a full honorary procession in honor of the centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on November 11, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP)
By creating this program, Congress not only provided a path to justice for American families, but also deprived Iran of billions of dollars that could otherwise be spent on more terror against innocent Americans and our courageous military personnel.
Right now, a group of victims of Iranian terrorism, led by the mother of First Lieutenant Jacob Fritz – who was kidnapped from a US compound in Iraq in 2007 by an Iranian assassination squad and summarily handcuffed, beaten and executed – is fighting to seize billions of dollars in Iranian cryptocurrency in federal court.
These Gold Star families submitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York hundreds of pages of expert reports and exhibits showing how approximately $15 billion worth of Bitcoin was allegedly mined and held by the Iran and China Investment Development Group to help Iran evade sanctions. They have asked the court to transfer the money to thousands of victims of Iranian terrorism with outstanding court judgments against Iran.
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Given the clear directive from Congress and Trump to shift all elements of national power toward the containment of Iran, I was shocked to see the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., decide to oppose these Gold Star families.
In public filings, Nocella argues—without any evidence to contradict the Gold Star families’ expert reports and despite admitting in his own filings that some of the Bitcoin was mined in Iran—that the Bitcoin in question is not the property of Iran, but is in fact the proceeds of Southeast Asian scam centers run by Chen Zhi, a Cambodian national.
He is demanding that the court hand over the Bitcoin to the US government, under a civil forfeiture proceeding related to Chen’s alleged crimes, instead of to the victims of Iranian terrorism.
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After decades of brutal Iranian terror that has attacked, tortured and murdered our war fighters and innocent civilians, there is no doubt that these funds would be better used to provide justice for families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, rather than padding the federal budget.
But the biggest problem with Nocella’s aggressive denial of Iranian involvement is that it risks returning billions of dollars to Iran and its terrorist allies. If Nocella manages to convince the court that the Bitcoin is not Iranian, it would mean that they are not subject to US sanctions against Iran. If he subsequently loses his forfeiture case, Bitcoin’s return to Iran would seemingly be inevitable. This is not abstract; Nocella’s case is, quite frankly, an embarrassment to the justice system and a slap in the face to the families of those who risked their lives for this country.
Under the terms of Nocella’s own forfeiture complaint, the Bitcoin was already beyond Chen’s control at the time of his alleged criminal fraud activity, and the complaint contains no evidence linking Chen’s alleged conduct in the United States to the Bitcoin.
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The indictment against Chen includes photographs allegedly depicting victims tortured by Chen’s criminal organization. As independent journalists have pointed out, rather than providing evidence of Chen’s evil actions, these photos actually appear to include a viral photo on social media of a man who was in a serious accident six years ago and a man who got involved in an unrelated bar fight in 2015. You can’t make this up.
As recently announced by the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York spent years working with victims of Iranian terrorism to dismantle an Iranian money laundering facility in Manhattan.
Given the clear directive from Congress and Trump to shift all elements of national power toward the containment of Iran, I was shocked to see the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., decide to oppose these Gold Star families.
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But in the Eastern District, what should be a simple process to obtain justice for our fighters is in danger of becoming a national shame. Nocella should stop fighting the Gold Star families and let them continue with their better researched and written case against Iran.
At a time when the US has come closest to eradicating this evil regime and negotiations are underway to establish peace in the region, we must do everything we can to keep this money out of the hands of terrorists, rather than looking for ways to line the government’s pockets.
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