The CEO of Binance has denied allegations that he has received an Interpol Red Notice to locate and arrest the crypto founder, calling the rumor “FUD”.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao denounced claims in a Tuesday tweet that he was facing a Red Notice request issued by the International Criminal Police Organization. He also shared a picture of the alleged red notice, clarifying that the picture was photoshopped.
The rumors began to spread on social media after Twitter personality ‘Kobi’ shared a crypto transaction that came with an on-chain message claiming that CZ was facing an Interpol Red Notice.
Several news outlets picked up on the story, causing panic in the crypto community. This marked a sharp drop in the price of the BNB token on Binance as well as the broader market.
Interpol is an international criminal police organization that facilitates cross-border co-operation between police forces of different countries. It issues red notices for fugitives who are wanted for extradition.
The agency can act as a request to law enforcement agencies in the 194 member states to locate and provisionally arrest the person who is the subject of the notice.
A Red Notice is not equivalent to an international arrest warrant, and is not enforceable by itself. Instead, the notice serves as a tool to facilitate the extradition of a wanted person from one country to another.
In a comment to Crypto News, a Binance spokesperson denied the allegations and referred to Interpol’s website, which did not list a public red notice for Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as of April 4.
Binance in Hot Waters with Regulators in the US
Binance has been under scrutiny from regulators around the world in recent months, with its US businesses most vulnerable to an ongoing crackdown by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Recently, the CFTC announced that it is suing Binance and founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao over allegations that the crypto exchange knowingly offered unregistered crypto derivative products in the US in violation of the law.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is also under investigation by the US Internal Revenue Service and various federal prosecutors over concerns about poor adherence to anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) controls.
In addition, the SEC issued a Wells Notice to Paxos, a crypto firm that issued Binance’s stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), and plan to sue Company upon issuing its BUSD. The agency argued that BUSD is considered an unregistered security.
In early March, three US senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Asked Binance and its US partner Binance.US to provide detailed information about their business operations amid allegations of illegal practices.
In a letter addressed to Brian Schroder, CEO of CZ and Binance.US, the senators said the exchange and its related entities have “purposefully” evaded regulators, facilitating the transfer of assets to criminals and sanctions violators , and has concealed basic financial information from its customers. and the public.