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The SEC also sued Binance.US' operating company, BAM Trading, alleging that it misled investors about "non-existent trading" controls over its platform. A day later, the SEC asked a federal court to freeze Binance.US' assets, including more than $2.2 billion held in crypto and some $377 million in U.S. dollar bank accounts. 'ROUND OF LAYOFFS'Two Binance.US employees said on LinkedIn on Wednesday they were leaving the company, with one citing a "round of layoffs." Binance.US had avoided layoffs over the past year, Shroder wrote in the message. In a court filing on Monday, Binance.US' operator, BAM Trading, said the SEC's asset freeze request would "effectively put BAM out of business."

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Brian Shroder, Shroder, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Elisa Martinuzzi, Richard Chang, Louise Heavens Organizations: U.S, Reuters, SEC, BAM, Management, LinkedIn, Thomson

Employees in Binance.US' legal, compliance and risk departments were among those dismissed, the people told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the matter is private. The SEC also sued Binance.US' operating company, BAM Trading, alleging that it misled investors about "non-existent trading" controls over its platform. A day later, the SEC asked a federal court to freeze Binance.US' assets, including more than $2.2 billion held in crypto and some $377 million in U.S. dollar bank accounts. Two Binance.US employees said on LinkedIn on Wednesday they were leaving the company, with one citing a "round of layoffs." Reporting by Angus Berwick and Tom Wilson; edited by Elisa Martinuzzi and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Binance.US, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Elisa Martinuzzi, Richard Chang Organizations: U.S, Reuters, SEC, BAM, LinkedIn, Thomson

After receiving $145 million from Binance.US's operator by 2021, Sigma Chain spent $11 million on buying a yacht, the SEC complaint said, without elaborating. It is unclear from the SEC complaint how much money Zhao is alleged to have drawn from Merit Peak and Sigma Chain. The SEC also said Zhao used Merit Peak to direct more than $16 million to fund Binance's purportedly independent U.S. affiliate Binance.US. Binance used its BUSD holdings to meet customer withdrawals by selling them for dollars as needed, Reuters reported in May. The SEC complaint also identified Binance Labs, a venture capital arm of Binance, as part of the exchange's plan to increase demand for BNB.

Persons: Zhao, Binance, Benoit Tessier LONDON, Changpeng Zhao, John Reed Stark, Stark, Binance's, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Lisa Barrington, Hadeel Al, Elisa Martinuzzi, Alexander Smith Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Binance, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Swiss, Sigma Chain, Reuters, Silicon, Internet, Futures Trading Commission, U.S . Justice, Reuters Graphics, Silvergate Bank, Merit, Sigma, Binance Labs, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, Binance, U.S, Virgin Islands, Dubai, London, Hadeel Al Sayegh

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - A senior Binance executive was the main operator for five bank accounts belonging to the giant cryptocurrency exchange’s purportedly independent U.S. affiliate, including an account that held American customers’ funds, bank records show. This allowed Chen and her deputies to move funds held in the bank accounts. The previously unreported bank records and messages show that Binance’s management over the U.S. business’s finances extended across its bank accounts at Silvergate and detail how this secret access was granted. Binance.US has denied that Binance ever operated its bank accounts. ‘PRIMARY ADMIN USER’The Binance.US trading platform was launched by its operating firm, BAM Trading, in mid-2019 under then Chief Executive Catherine Coley.

Persons: Guangying Chen, Changpeng Zhao, Chen, Binance, Zhao, Binance.US, Krishna Juvvadi, Christian Hertenstein, Brian Shroder, ” Hertenstein, “, Chen’s, Juvvadi, ”, Peak’s, Catherine Coley, Coley, Silvergate, James McDonald, Hertenstein, Susan Li, Li messaged, Li, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Janet McBride, Michael Williams Organizations: Silvergate Bank, U.S, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Reuters, BAM, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, ” Reuters, SEC, “, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, American, US, Binance, Shanghai, Binance.US

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationJune 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday accused the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, and its founder Changpeng Zhao, of operating an "elaborate scheme to evade U.S. federal securities laws." The SEC charged Binance and Zhao with 13 offences, including operating an unregistered securities exchange and failing to restrict U.S. customers from its platform. "Any allegations that user assets on the Binance.US platform have ever been at risk are simply wrong," Binance said. Merit Peak and Sigma Chain were used to transfer tens of billions of dollars involving Binance, Binance.US and other related entities, the SEC said. Zhao instructed Binance.US to onboard Sigma Chain and Merit Peak as market makers on the Binance.US platform, the SEC said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Binance, Binance.US, Chain’s, Angus Berwick, Michelle Price, Nick Zieminski Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Peak's, Reuters, Silvergate Bank, Sigma, BUSINESS Zhao, BAM, Sigma Chain, U.S, Thomson Locations: U.S, Switzerland, Binance.US, Shanghai, Cayman Islands

LONDON, June 5 - A senior Binance executive was the main operator for five bank accounts belonging to the giant cryptocurrency exchange’s purportedly independent U.S. affiliate, including an account that held American customers’ funds, bank records show. This allowed Chen and her deputies to move funds held in the bank accounts. The previously unreported bank records and messages show that Binance’s management over the U.S. business’s finances extended across its bank accounts at Silvergate and detail how this secret access was granted. Binance.US has denied that Binance ever operated its bank accounts. ‘PRIMARY ADMIN USER’The Binance.US trading platform was launched by its operating firm, BAM Trading, in mid-2019 under chief executive Catherine Coley.

Persons: Guangying Chen, Changpeng Zhao, Chen, Binance, Binance.US, Krishna Juvvadi, Christian Hertenstein, Brian Shroder, ” Hertenstein, Zhao, “, Chen’s, Juvvadi, Reutersalso, Peak’s, Catherine Coley, Coley, Silvergate, James McDonald, Hertenstein, ”, Susan Li, Li messaged, Li, Angus Berwick, Tom Wilson, Janet McBride, Michael Williams Organizations: Silvergate Bank, U.S, Reuters, BAM, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC, “, Thomson Locations: U.S, Washington, American, US, Binance, Shanghai, Binance.US

Reuters could not determine Coley's status in the government investigations or whether she had cooperated. While he was its director of enforcement, the CFTC increasingly worked on investigations in parallel with federal prosecutors. McDonald's representation of Coley comes as the U.S. investigations pile pressure on Binance, which dominates the crypto sector as the world's largest digital currency exchange. The CFTC's complaint said that Binance personnel, including Zhao, have "dictated Binance.US's corporate strategy, launch, and early operations." In a subpoena addressed to Coley that same month, the SEC also requested all records of her activities and meetings.

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Binance founder Changpeng Zhao could never be accused of thinking small. The 46-year-old CEO didn't waver in his belief as he built up his crypto exchange. Binance and Zhao did not respond to requests for comment for this article. Binance became the world's biggest crypto exchange within six months, and now accounts for about 60% of global crypto trading volumes, according to research firm CryptoCompare. While Binance has hired widely from the traditional financial and regulatory worlds in recent years, Zhao's tight control over his company has continued.

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.

Senators have asked giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its U.S. partner Binance.US for information about their regulatory compliance and finances, citing a series of investigations by Reuters and some other media reports, according to a letter released on Wednesday. The collapse of rival crypto exchange FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged with fraud, “underscored the need for real transparency and accountability in the crypto industry," the senators wrote. Binance has previously disputed Reuters’ articles, calling the illicit-fund calculations inaccurate and the descriptions of its compliance controls "outdated." In the letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the senators requested Binance and Binance.US provide documents and answers to their questions by March 16. The senators are seeking information about the companies’ balance sheets, U.S.-based users, anti-money laundering policies.

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