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☆ Binance was slapped with a $4.3 billion fine because it let groups like Hamas and ISIS receive funds: Treasury Department
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The treasury department says the company enabled transactions from Hamas, the Islamic State, and Al Qaeda. The treasury department said Binance failed to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions involving terrorist groups, ransomware, child sexual exploitation material, and scams. Lim had been told about "HAMAS transactions," and responded by saying that terrorists often send "small sums" of money because "large sums constitute money laundering," the CFTC complaint said. Advertisement"I HAZ NO CONFIDENCE IN OUR GEOFENCING," Lim was told by a Binance employee, who was tasked with reporting money laundering, the complaint said. The justice department opened an investigation into Binance's compliance with anti money laundering law in 2018.

Persons: Binance, —, Samuel Lim, Lim, Zhao, Merrick Garland, Richard Teng —, Binanace, Yesha Yadav Organizations: Service, Zhao, Brigades, Hamas, Islamic, Futures Trading, AK, New York Times, Vanderbilt University, Reuters, Futures Trading Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission Locations: Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Iraq, Syria

☆ Binance chief will admit violating US laws as part of $4 billion deal to resolve probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance speaks during an event in Athens, Greece, November 25, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Binance Holdings Ltd FollowNEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Binance Holdings chief Changpeng Zhao will admit violating U.S. laws as part of a deal to resolve a U.S. probe into illicit finance breaches, according to a source familiar with matter. The deal between a number of U.S. agencies and the world's largest crypto exchange will also involve charges against Binance's former compliance chief Samuel Lim, the source said. The deal will include penalties on the firm of over $4 billion, including $3.4 billion from U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and another $968 million from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, another source familiar with the matter said. Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Zhao Changpeng, Binance, Costas Baltas, Changpeng Zhao, Samuel Lim, Chris Prentice, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: REUTERS, Binance Holdings, Treasury's, Network, Foreign Assets Control, Thomson Locations: Athens, Greece, U.S

Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance, speaks at the Blockchain Week Summit in Paris, France, on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Binance chief Changpeng Zhao will plead guilty to criminal charges and step down as the company's CEO as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice, according to court documents. The plea arrangement with the government resolves a multi-year investigation into the world's largest crypto exchange. The Securities and Exchange Commission targeted the company with an expansive lawsuit in June, alleging that Binance was running an illegal securities exchange and mishandling customer funds. To this day, Binance remains the world's largest crypto exchange globally, processing billions of dollars in trading volume every year.

Persons: Zhao Changpeng, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Brian Tsuchida, Binance, Kraken, Gary Gensler, wasn't, Samuel Lim, —, ada, Kevin Breuninger Organizations: Department of Justice, Justice Department, DOJ, Emergency Economic, U.S, CNBC, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Binance, Authority Locations: Paris, France, U.S, Seattle, Iran, Cayman Islands

☆ Binance and its CEO seek dismissal of CFTC complaint
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 27 (Reuters) - Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao have filed a motion to dismiss a complaint filed against the exchange by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (FTC), the company said in a court filing on Thursday. The CFTC sued Binance, Zhao and former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim in March alleging that they violated the Commodity Exchange Act and certain related federal regulations, and for operating what the regulator said was an "illegal" exchange and a "sham" compliance program. The Court should dismiss the complaint in its entirety," Binance said. Lim filed a separate motion to dismiss the CFTC claims against him. Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Binance, Zhao, Samuel Lim, Lim, Juby Babu, Tom Hogue Organizations: U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

The seizure was to "thwart the activity" of Islamic State and "impair its ability to further its goals," the NBCTF said on its website. The NBCTF document, which has not been previously reported, did not give any details on the value of the crypto seized, nor how the accounts were connected to Islamic State. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, did not respond to Reuters' calls and emails seeking comment. The U.S. Treasury said in a report last year that Islamic State had received crypto donations it later converted to cash, accessing funds via crypto trading platforms. The owner of the two Islamic State-linked Binance accounts seized by Israel was a 28-year old Palestinian called Osama Abuobayda, the NBCTF document shows.

☆ CFTC Charges Against Binance Highlight Role of Former Compliance Chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Binance spokeswoman called the complaint filed by the CFTC ”unexpected and disappointing as we have been working collaboratively with the CFTC for more than two years.”The suit by U.S. regulators against Binance Holdings Ltd. focuses in large part on the work of the cryptocurrency exchange’s former chief compliance officer, alleging he willfully aided and abetted the firm in evading U.S. laws. Samuel Lim, Binance’s compliance chief between 2018 and 2022, faces civil charges of undermining Binance’s compliance program and conducting activities to evade rules designed to prevent illicit financial activity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Monday.

☆ Prosecutors say Binance execs cracked jokes when warned terrorists could be moving money on their platform: 'Can barely buy an AK-47 with 600 bucks'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"Can barely buy an AK-47 with 600 bucks," the Binance employee wrote to their boss, per the CFTC. The complaint said Lim described a Binance compliance audit as a "half assed individual sub audit on geo(fencing)" to "buy us more time." "Yea its fine I can get mgmt to sign," Lim responded, per the CFTC's complaint. "Lim's internal discussions with compliance colleagues illustrate that Binance has tolerated Binance customers' use of the platform to facilitate 'illicit activity,'" said the CFTC's complaint. In a Tuesday statement, Zhao said the CFTC's complaint "appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts," and disputed "the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint."

☆ Binance boss CZ shows what he thinks of the trading violations lawsuit with an enigmatic tweet: '4'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Binance boss Changpeng Zhao "CZ" Photo by Pedro Fiúza/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesBinance boss CZ showed what he thinks of trading violations lawsuit with an enigmatic tweet: "4"He was referring to one of his four principles: "Ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc." CZ said he eats his company's "dog food" by storing his personal crypto on his exchange. Binance boss Changpeng Zhao showed what he thinks of the Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) lawsuit against him and the exchange with a cryptic, enigmatic tweet of the number "4." I eat our own dog food and store my crypto on Binance.com," he said. In other words, if a company's dog food is as high quality as advertised, it should be good enough for its employees to eat.

☆ Bitcoin and Ether are down 3% after CFTC sued Binance and its CEO over US regulatory violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cryptocurrencies are trading lower after CFTC sued major exchange Binance for regulatory violations. Bitcoin and Ether are trading around $27,000 and $1,700 respectively, about 3% lower over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin and Ether prices are around $27,000 and $1,700 per token respectively, per CoinMarketCap data. The US regulator said in a complaint filed in a Chicago federal court Monday that Binance breached eight provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC said Binance "lucrative and commercially important 'VIP'" customers, including institutional customers in the US while disregarding registration and regulatory requirements under the US law.

☆ The CFTC's suit against Binance marks a deepening crackdown on the crypto industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

All this comes just days after the SEC charged a spate of high-profile individuals for fraud and crypto market manipulation. That comes months after the total crypto market value saw about $2 trillion erased in a brutal plunge in token prices. The SEC also warned that the platforms investors use to get involved in crypto aren't quite airtight, in the regulator's view. In other news:FILE PHOTO: A participant stands near a logo of World Bank at the International Monetary Fund - World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Nusa Dua Reuters2. The World Bank just warned that this could be the start of a "lost decade" for global economic growth.

☆ Binance 'could be in big trouble' as the CFTC lawsuit alleges the crypto behemoth dodged regulators and breached laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Binance is being blow-torched from all angles as US regulators close in on the world's largest crypto exchange. The CFTC sued the exchange this week for violating US financial laws, whilst some reports suggest Binance has engaged in secret fund transfers. On Monday, the Commodities Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance and Zhao himself, for allegedly breaching US financial laws. Following the shocking implosion of Sam-Bankman Fried's FTX exchange late last year, concerns have risen whether Binance faces similar risks. If US authorities decide the links meant the crypto exchange had control over the US platform, it could expose the company to enforcement action.

☆ Binance Sued by CFTC Over Evading U.S. Rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Eric Lee for The Wall Street JournalThe CFTC and other federal agencies have been investigating Binance for several years. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday sued Binance Holdings Ltd., alleging the operator of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange violated U.S. rules that require futures and other derivatives to be traded on regulated platforms. The CFTC’s lawsuit also named Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Samuel Lim , who the agency said was Binance’s first chief compliance officer, as defendants. The lawsuit seeks restitution and fines as well as an order that would prevent the companies from any continuing conduct that violates U.S. rules.

☆ Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao violated compliance rules to attract U.S. users, CFTC alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Beyond disgorgement and any monetary costs, the CFTC filing asked the court to impose further relief, including trading and registration bans. Just days prior to the CFTC filing, CNBC reported on how Binance employees worked to subvert the exchange's compliance controls in China, using some of the same techniques that the CFTC alleges Binance to solicit U.S. users. "Do not directly tell the user to run," Binance instructed its VIP team, the filing alleged. The CFTC filing alleges that Binance engaged in similar activity for its U.S. users. But, Zhao posted a tweet that said "4" in an apparent response to the CFTC filing.

The CFTC sued Binance, Zhao and its former top compliance executive with "willful evasion" of U.S. law, "while engaging in a calculated strategy of regulatory arbitrage to their commercial benefit." "Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint," Zhao said in a statement. Firms such as brokers that facilitate U.S. customers' trading of such products are required to register with the agency. 'PIRATE SHIP'Founded in Shanghai in 2017, Binance sits at the heart of the global crypto industry. With a holding company based in the Cayman Islands, Binance has never revealed the location of its core exchange.

March 27 (Reuters) - Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance and executives, including CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao, have been sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for regulatory violations, according to a court filing on Monday. Binance's compliance program has been "ineffective" and the firm, under the direction of Zhao, told employees and customers to go around compliance controls, the CFTC said. It also accused Binance's former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim of aiding and abetting Binance's violations. "For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance. Its core Binance.com exchange, the world's biggest, processed trades worth about $23 trillion last year, according to data provider CryptoCompare.

The article was one of a series of reports this year by the news agency on Binance's financial compliance and relationship with regulators across the world. Reuters also asked representatives of the local Binance units and affiliates about their relationship with the main Binance exchange. In Italy, Binance's public corporate filings detail just the unit's capital base and its ownership by a separate Binance company in Ireland. The Italian company, Binance Italy S.R.L., has its listed address in a block of shops and apartments in the southern city of Lecce. Just two of the Binance units analysed by Reuters offer more substantial details in their filings.

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