2023-03-28
The CFTC charged Binance's former compliance chief Samuel Lim, too. @_tom_wilson_ & I reported last year that Lim was aware of Binance's compliance failings. “Damn why touch fiat if dont wanna be compliant. So ironic LOL,” he wrote in a text we reviewed https://www.reuters.com/...
CFTC
The CFTC sues Binance, CEO CZ, and a former chief compliance officer, calling the company's compliance efforts “a sham” and its structure “intentionally opaque”
The CFTC charged Binance's former compliance chief Samuel Lim, too. @_tom_wilson_ & I reported last year that Lim was aware of Binance's compliance failings. “Damn why touch fiat if dont wanna be compliant. So ironic LOL,” he wrote in a text we reviewed https://www.reuters.com/...
Binance Blog
Binance CEO CZ says CFTC's complaint contains “incomplete recitation of facts” and Binance does not agree with “characterization of many of the issues alleged”
Today, the CFTC filed an unexpected and disappointing civil complaint, despite our working cooperatively with the CFTC for over two years.
2023-02-17
NEW: Binance had secret access to a Silvergate bank account belonging to the crypto giant's purportedly independent U.S. partner. During a three-month period, Binance transferred $400 mln from the account to a trading firm managed by CZ, we found: https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Documents: Binance used secret access to Binance.US' Silvergate bank account to move $400M+ in Q1 2021 to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao's trading firm Merit Peak
https://binance.us/'s executives, including then CEO Catherine Coley, were concerned by the outflows because the transfers were taking place without their knowledge, according to messages we reviewed. “Where are those funds coming from?” Coley asked a Binance executive
Reuters
Documents: Binance used secret access to Binance.US' Silvergate bank account to move $400M+ in Q1 2021 to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao's trading firm Merit Peak
2023-01-05
NEW: FTX's former top lawyer Daniel Friedberg has assisted U.S. prosecutors as they investigate the crypto firm's collapse, a source told me. “I want to cooperate in all respects,” he wrote in an email to the FBI several days after resigning last November https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Source: FTX's former top lawyer Daniel Friedberg has cooperated with US prosecutors, telling them what he knew of SBF and others misusing customer funds
FTX's former top lawyer Daniel Friedberg has cooperated with U.S. prosecutors as they investigate the crypto firm's collapse …
2022-12-22
The SEC makes its position known on exchanges' proof of reserves: “Investors should not place too much confidence in the mere fact a company says it's got a proof of reserves from an audit firm,” the SEC's Mr. Munter said. https://twitter.com/...
Wall Street Journal
The SEC's Paul Munter says the regulator is increasing scrutiny of audit firms working with crypto companies, warning investors to be “very wary” of some claims
Jean Eaglesham / Wall Street Journal :
2022-12-14
NEW: We reviewed FTX's code base which contains the secret change that allowed Bankman-Fried to move client money to Alameda. “Be extra careful not to liquidate the PMM,” his chief engineer noted, referring to Alameda as FTX's “Primary Market Maker” https://www.reuters.com/...
Bloomberg
SBF's “carelessness” fraud defense, after misrepresenting risk management and funneling customer money to Alameda, is a confession the SEC sees straight through
Oh Sam — I. — Here is how you run a futures exchange: — You offer some bets on some propositions, say, whether Bitcoin will go up or down. Tweets: @qasimrashid , @eliotwb , @b...
NEW: We reviewed FTX's code base which contains the secret change that allowed Bankman-Fried to move client money to Alameda. “Be extra careful not to liquidate the PMM,” his chief engineer noted, referring to Alameda as FTX's “Primary Market Maker” https://www.reuters.com/...
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The SEC charges Sam Bankman-Fried with defrauding investors and concealing diverting FTX customer funds to Alameda while raising $1.8B+ since at least May 2019
2022-12-12
NEW: We pieced together how the US Justice Dep investigation into Binance has developed and how the crypto giant has sought to keep it at bay. Some prosecutors now believe evidence justifies filing charges against executives including CZ, sources told us https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Sources: US prosecutors are split on charging Binance and its executives over possible money laundering and sanctions violations and have discussed a plea deal
Splits between U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are delaying the conclusion of a long-running criminal investigation …
2022-11-26
Crypto's defenders say the blockchain offers “unparalleled transparency” into illicit flows. But exchanges' often lax controls enable criminals to still move funds without detection. We researched one criminal group that exploited this gap: child abusers https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
How crypto helped users buy horrific child abuse images on Dark Scandals, whose founder was sentenced to 10 years by a Dutch court, often aided by exchanges
Reuters : Tweets: @aaberwick , @to_discussion , @reuters , @reutersbiz , @reuters , and @reuters Tweets: Angus Berwick / @aaberwick : Crypto's defenders say the blockchain offers ...
2022-11-17
FTX's new CEO John Ray in a declaration to the bankruptcy court filed today: “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here”
CoinDesk
Bankruptcy filings: FTX CEO John J. Ray III, who oversaw Enron, condemns SBF's “unprecedented” management, describing a “complete failure of corporate controls”
The former FTX CEO's unconventional style is under the spotlight as bankruptcy professionals pore over the exchange's collapse.
2022-09-02
Exclusive: U.S. federal prosecutors asked Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, to provide extensive internal records about its anti-money laundering checks, along with communications involving its CEO and founder @cz_binance https://www.reuters.com/...
Binance Blog
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao says Binance is not a Chinese company and rejects suggestions of it being secretly run by a Chinese national, Guangying Chen
Binance Blog :
2022-09-01
Exclusive: U.S. federal prosecutors asked Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, to provide extensive internal records about its anti-money laundering checks, along with communications involving its CEO and founder @cz_binance https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Sources: in late 2020, the US DOJ asked Binance to provide extensive records on its anti-money laundering rules and communications by CEO Changpeng Zhao
U.S. federal prosecutors asked Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, to provide extensive internal records …
2022-06-07
A Binance spokesman told us they did not consider our calculation accurate. In advance of our article, Binance published this blog describing its efforts to combat money laundering. “Crypto is an awful vehicle for laundering money,” it says 3/X https://www.binance.com/...
Bloomberg
Sources: the SEC is probing Binance and its 2017 ICO of BNB, now the world's fifth biggest token, on whether BNB is a security that should have been registered
US regulators are investigating whether Binance Holdings Ltd. broke securities rules by selling digital tokens just as the crypto exchange …
2022-06-06
A Binance spokesman told us they did not consider our calculation accurate. In advance of our article, Binance published this blog describing its efforts to combat money laundering. “Crypto is an awful vehicle for laundering money,” it says 3/X https://www.binance.com/...
Reuters
An investigation finds Binance served as a conduit for laundering $2.35B+ between 2017 and 2021, including funds gathered from hacks, fraud, and drug sales
For five years, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance served as a conduit for the laundering of at least $2.35 billion …
NEW: For five years, a torrent of dirty money flowed through the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. From North Korean hackers to Russian drug traffickers, we found Binance served as a conduit for the laundering of at least $2.35 billion: https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
An investigation finds Binance served as a conduit for laundering $2.35B+ between 2017 and 2021, including funds gathered from hacks, fraud, and drug sales
For five years, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance served as a conduit for the laundering of at least $2.35 billion …
2022-04-22
Story with @tomwilson1983. This follows our first piece on Binance published back in January: https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Investigation details Binance's efforts to build ties with the Russian government, including handing over data on opposition leader Alexei Navalny in April 2021
In April 2021, Russia's financial intelligence unit met in Moscow with the regional head of Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange.
NEW: We looked into Binance's behind-the-scenes efforts to build ties with Russian state agencies while growing its crypto business. As part of this, messages show Binance agreed last year to give client data to a FSB-linked agency tracing Navalny's funds: https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Investigation details Binance's efforts to build ties with the Russian government, including handing over data on opposition leader Alexei Navalny in April 2021
In April 2021, Russia's financial intelligence unit met in Moscow with the regional head of Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange.
2022-01-22
Reuters earlier published my and @tomwilson1983's investigation into crypto giant Binance's money laundering compliance. We reviewed internal docs and messages, and spoke with ex-staff and partners around the world. Here are a few of our findings: 1/10 https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters
Investigation finds that Binance withheld information from regulators and maintained weak checks on customers even as it publicly welcomed government oversight
NEW: Crypto giant @binance said it welcomed government oversight and vowed to help stop money laundering. Instead, my investigation with @tomwilson1983 found Binance kept weak checks in place and withheld information from regulators: https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters