Kenyan Investigators Freeze $751,853 in USDT as Binance Wallet Probe Widens Further
Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has frozen at least $888,030 in cash and tether stablecoins tied to a multi-layered money laundering operation that allegedly moved more than $2.32 million through shell firms, bank accounts, remittance services, and cryptocurrency wallets.
Court documents filed by the ARA state that the frozen funds include $751,853 in USDT held in Binance accounts linked to Glory Kithure, and $896 in USDT linked to Michael Machimbo. Investigators also seized $135,000 spread across nine accounts at over five banks.
Investigators allege the scheme relied on two parallel channels designed to obscure the origin of the money. In the first channel, funds were sent via international remittance services into Kenya through intermediary individuals and companies before reaching the respondents’ bank accounts. Court filings identify intermediaries including Justice Gaturu, Richard Mwangi, and two firms: DigitalMall Global Ltd. and Bitflux Fintech Ltd. Money was then relayed through additional individuals before being deposited into accounts held by Machimbo and Kithure.
Between October 2022 and January 2024, Machimbo received approximately $620,000 in his Equity Bank accounts from Michael and another intermediary, Kevin Kipngeno. 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 $412,000 between July 2022 and May 2025. Individual transfers ranged from $77 to approximately $4,250 — amounts deliberately kept below Kenya’s anti-money laundering reporting thresholds. 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 repeated use of amounts just below the reporting threshold is consistent with the structuring of transactions to avoid regulatory reporting requirements,” the ARA said in court filings, noting the pattern reflects the “layering” stage of money laundering.
In one instance, Gaturu received two payments totaling $7,000 from the U.S. payment platform Chime in November 2023. Gaturu then transferred $8,400 to Mwendwa’s Equity Bank account in three installments. Mwendwa forwarded the funds to Michael, who dispersed them into Kithure’s bank account.
The second channel involved tether stablecoins routed through multiple Binance exchange accounts to sever ties to their sources.
The ARA said investigations remain ongoing, and Kenyan authorities dispatched a request for mutual legal assistance to the U.S. government in May 2026 to obtain international financial records. The court action comes as Kenyan authorities step up enforcement against illegal financial flows involving cryptocurrencies, amid concerns that digital assets are being used to bypass traditional financial monitoring systems.