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In its 13 charges, the SEC alleged that Binance and Zhao used Merit Peak and Sigma Chain, another trading firm controlled by Zhao, to commingle corporate funds with client assets and use the monies "as they please." This put customers' assets at risk while Binance sought to "maximize" its profits, the SEC wrote in its civil complaint on Monday. "All user assets on Binance and Binance affiliate platforms, including Binance.US, are safe and secure," it said in a statement on Monday. The funds received by British Virgin Islands-based Merit Peak between 2019 and 2021 flowed from Key Vision Development Ltd, also controlled by Zhao, the SEC filing on Tuesday showed. Reuters reported last month that Key Vision and Merit Peak, along with Binance's Cayman Islands holding company, formed the core of the global crypto exchange's financial network.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Binance, Zhao, Guangying Chen, Chen, Tom Wilson, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Sigma, British, Vision Development, Key Vision, U.S, Reuters, Vision, Binance's, Sigma Chain's, BAM, Thomson Locations: Seychelles, British Virgin Islands, Islands, Binance, United States, U.S, Singapore

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

☆ The SEC charges Coinbase with violating securities regulations
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The SEC on Tuesday sued Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, with violating securities laws. The lawsuit comes one day after the SEC sued Binance and CEO, Changpeng Zhao for operating an illegal exchange and violating US regulations related to the offering of unregistered securities. The suit also takes aim at two other Coinbase services, Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Wallet. The SEC complaint says that these services included trading of crypto assets that are considered securities, "bringing Coinbase's operations squarely within the purview of the securities laws." Read the full SEC lawsuit here.

Persons: Coinbase, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, — Organizations: SEC, Service, Court Southern District of, Coinbase, Sigma, Binance's, Sigma Chain Locations: Court Southern District of New York

☆ SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Co-founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, speaks on stage during the opening night of Web Summit 2022. The freezing order only applies Binance's two U.S. holding companies, not to the non-U.S. regulated international exchange. The order would apply to dozens of accounts held at Axos Bank, the defunct Silvergate Bank, Prime Trust, and other institutions. The emergency restraining order was necessary, the regulator argued, to "prevent the dissipation of available assets for any judgment, given the Defendants' years of violative conduct, disregard of the laws of the United States." The restraining order would also prevent all three entities from destroying evidence.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Zhao Organizations: The Securities, Exchange Commission, Binance's, Axos Bank, Silvergate Bank, Prime Trust, Sigma Chain, SEC Locations: Washington ,, Binance's U.S, United States

June 5 (Reuters) - The world's largest crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao operated a "web of deception" that included artificially inflating its trading volumes and diverting customer assets, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged on Monday. The agency on Monday sued Binance and Zhao for failing to restrict U.S. customers from its platform and misleading investors about its market surveillance controls, as well as for operating an unregistered securities exchange. "We allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement. The world's biggest crypto exchange, Binance was founded in Shanghai in 2017 by CEO Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian citizen born and raised until the age of 12 in China. Binance's global trading platform, Binance.com dominates the crypto trading landscape, last year processing trades worth about $65 billion a day with up to 70% of the market.

Persons: Zhao, Binance, ”, Gary Gensler, BNB, Changpeng Zhao, Jonathan Stempel, Hannah Lang, Tom Wilson, Nick Zieminski Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Washington , D.C, SEC, Sigma, Binance, U.S . Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Justice, Reuters, Silvergate, Thomson Locations: Washington ,, Shanghai, Canadian, China, Cayman Islands, Silvergate Bank, New York, Washington, London

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

☆ The SEC is suing Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for violating securities regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Max Adams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The SEC is suing Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao. The SEC alleged that Binance diverted customers' funds to a trading firm called Sigma Chain that was under Zhao's control. The regulator also said Sigma Chain conducted fraudulent trades to artificially inflate Binance's volume. In February, the Journal reported the SEC was looking into the relationship between the US arm of Binance and two trading firms with ties to Zhao. One area of the investigation's focus was how Binance.US disclosed to customers its links to the trading firms, the report said.

Persons: Binance, Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, —, Binance's Zhao Organizations: SEC, WSJ, Service, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Monday, Street Journal, Sigma, Sigma Chain, District of Columbia, Commodities Futures, Trading Commission, Palestinian, Justice Department, Washington Post, Western, of, Reuters Locations: District, Binance.US, Russian, of Washington, Seattle

☆ SEC sues Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for U.S. securities violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Binance's ultimate compliance, in 2019, was largely a public show, the SEC complaint continues. The SEC alleged that Binance and Zhao violated "critical" provisions of federal security laws, including self-dealing and market manipulation, through Merit Peak Limited and Sigma Chain, both of which Zhao controlled and owned. Merit Peak, a British Virgin Islands-based company, was one of the "earliest market makers" on Binance's U.S. platform, the SEC alleged. "We will issue a response once we see the complaint," Zhao said on Twitter. The defendants showed a "blatant disregard" of federal law, the SEC alleged.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Binance, Binance.US Organizations: Securities, Exchange, Binance, SEC, CNBC, Limited, Sigma Chain, Merit, Binance's U.S, Twitter, Media Locations: European, The U.S, USA, U.S, VPNs, Binance.com, British Virgin Islands, Binance's

☆ 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 secretly moved $400 million from its US partner to a trading firm managed by the crypto giant's boss CZ, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Binance secretly moved $400 million from its US partner to a trading firm owned by boss Changpeng Zhao, according to Reuters. Merit Peak is a market-maker trading firm owned by Binance CEO Zhao, who's often referred to by his initials CZ. Binance claims that Merit Peak and Binance's US partner Binance.US operate independently from the global exchange, which CZ co-founded in 2017. The Securities and Exchange Commission has previously probed ties between Binance.US, Merit Peak, and another CZ-owned trading firm called Sigma Chain AG, according to a Wall Street Journal report published in February 2022. It's not clear why the money was sent from Binance.US to Merit Peak or if any of the funds belonged to US customers.

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