Tag: Binance

Binance’s $4.3 Billion Payment in US Plea Deal Approved by Judge

Posted on

By Sabrina Willmer and Anna Edgerton. (Bloomberg). February 23, 2024.

Binance Holdings Ltd. will pay $4.3 billion after a judge approved a plea deal that levies one of the largest criminal penalties in US history against the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.

“This really is a case where the ethics of the company were compromised by greed,” US District Judge Richard Jones said at a sentencing hearing in Seattle on Friday.

Late last year, Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to anti-money
laundering and sanctions charges to resolve a long-running investigation by prosecutors
and regulators. Binance admitted that it allowed transactions with Hamas and other
terrorist groups on the exchange.

As part of the deal, the company’s compliance must be monitored by an independent firm
for as long as five years. The monitor hasn’t yet been apppointed. Bloomberg reported
earlier that New York-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell was poised to take the coveted
role.

Read more here: Bloomberg

Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao Agrees to Step Down, Plead Guilty

Posted on

By Dave Michaels, Patricia Kowsmann and Vivian Salama. (The Wall Street Journal). November 21, 2023.

The chief executive of Binance, the largest global cryptocurrency exchange, plans to step down and plead guilty to violating criminal U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements, in a deal that may preserve the company’s ability to continue operating, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Changpeng Zhao is scheduled to appear in Seattle federal court Tuesday afternoon and enter his plea, the people said. Binance, which Zhao owns, will also plead guilty to a criminal charge and agree to pay fines totaling $4.3 billion, which includes amounts to settle civil allegations made by regulators, the people said.

The deal would allow Zhao to retain his majority ownership of Binance, although he won’t be able to have an executive role at the company. He would face sentencing at a later date.

The outcome resembles an earlier case that prosecutors brought against the executives of BitMEX, an exchange for trading crypto derivatives that was based in the Seychelles. Its former CEO, Arthur Hayes, pleaded guilty to violating anti-money-laundering law and was later sentenced to two years probation, avoiding a possible prison term of six to 12 months. 

Read the full story here: The Wall Street Journal.

How The SEC’s Charge That Cryptos Are Securities Could Face An Uphill Battle

Posted on

By Maria Gracia Santillana Linares. (Forbes). August 14, 2023.

As the smoke clears from the first exchange of volleys between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the world’s two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase appear to have run out high-caliber legal arguments in their defense.

The U.S. regulator sued the two companies in June, alleging they were operating as unregistered securities exchanges and facilitating trading in cryptocurrencies that should have been registered as securities. The agency has been staunch in its contention that most digital assets–except for bitcoin and possibly ether–are securities and subject to its oversight as are exchanges on which cryptocurrencies trade.

Binance and Coinbase beg to differ, and they offer several arguments. The most potent, according to lawyers following the case, has to do with whether cryptocurrencies are meant to provide their owners with profit derived from the labors of others. If they do not meet that definition, then they are not securities. That might be enough to torpedo the government’s civil suits against the exchanges or at least narrow the scope of which of the 19 tokens it cited in the actions really are any of the SEC’s business.

Read the full article here.

SEC Sues Crypto Exchange Binance, CEO Changpeng Zhao

Posted on

By Nikhilesh De. June 5, 2023. (CoinDesk).

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued crypto exchange Binance, the operating company for Binance.US and Binance founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao on allegations of violating federal securities laws on Monday.

Binance, Binance.US and CZ offered unregistered securities to the general public in the form of the BNB token and Binance-linked BUSD stablecoin, said the suit, which also alleges that Binance’s staking service violated securities law. There are similar charges against BAM Trading – the operating company for Binance.US – and Binance itself, including failure to register as a clearing agency, failure to register as a broker and failure to register as an exchange. The SEC also alleged that Binance allowed for commingling of customer funds, that CZ was “secretly” controlling Binance.US and that a CZ-owned and operated entity was inflating Binance.US’sding volume.

The suit also alleged multiple times that Binance allowed U.S. persons (meaning U.S. citizens or people living in the U.S.) to trade on its platform, despite saying it wasn’t.

Read the Full Article Here.

Since Chairman Patrick McHenry threatened to SUBPOENA Gary Gensler for NON-COMPLIANCE with Congressional oversight.

CONNECT TO CONGRESS!

ACT NOW!