SEC will continue to litigate Binance despite its agreement with the Department of Justice

What’s new? The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes that its chances of winning the lawsuit against Binance increased after the platform entered into a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), admitting guilt in money laundering and agreeing to pay a fine of $4,3 billion. The SEC was not a party to the deal, but it asked the court to assess whether Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to violating AML regulations as part of its lawsuit.

Bloomberg’s material

What else is known? Binance settled claims by the Treasury Department’s anti-money laundering (FinCEN) and sanctions enforcement (OFAC) divisions and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for violating derivatives trading rules. In addition to paying the fine, the platform will allow US officials on its supervisory board for five years.

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Zhao will appear in court on February 23 next year, he could face 18 months in prison for facilitating money laundering. At the same time, the businessman was banned from leaving the States until sentencing, citing a high risk of flight. Earlier, Zhao was going to fly to the UAE, where he lives with his wife and children, but the DOJ emphasized that there is no extradition treaty between the countries.

In addition, Zhao stepped down as CEO of the global exchange and chairman of the board of the US arm.

On December 9, Zhao said he would refrain from using Twitter for the time being while thanking his 8,8 million followers for their support.

Source: Twitter.com

As for the proceedings with the SEC, Zhao, Binance, and Binance.US were sued by the regulator in June this year. They were accused of unregistered offerings of securities, which include cryptocurrencies SOL, ADA, and others, as well as using customers’ assets for their own benefit.

In September, the regulator accused the exchange of refusing to cooperate with the investigation. Moreover, according to journalists, officials are still looking for evidence of fraud on Binance.US. They allegedly believe that there is a backdoor on the exchange that allows stealing customer assets, just as it was in the case with the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. The defendants asked the court to dismiss the regulator’s lawsuit.

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On December 9, Binance co-founder Yi He again recalled that the exchange is an early-stage technology company, but it will still have a headquarters and a board of directors soon.

In this, Yi He noted that having a headquarters and a board of directors does not in itself guarantee the reliability of a company, but only allows it to better match the characteristics of a financial institution. In a conversation with a subscriber, she ironically noted that FTX, whose founder was found guilty of stealing $8 billion in client funds, had a headquarters.

Source: Twitter.com