The US Department of Justice is probing whether Binance Holdings Ltd was used to illegally bribe Russians to circumvent US sanctions and move funds through a cryptocurrency exchange, according to a reports From Bloomberg News.
The Justice Department’s National Security Division is investigating whether Binance or company officials acted improperly in connection with sanctions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Binance said in a statement to Bloomberg that the company complies with all US and international financial sanctions.
“In 2021, Binance will launch an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure, with a world-class bench of experienced executives to fundamentally transform Binance into a global leader in global governance,” said the statement to Bloomberg. involves operating at the level.
Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world and has felt the heat from regulators over the past few months.
Heat
US Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued binance And its founder Changpeng Zhao allegedly knowingly offered unregistered crypto derivative products in the US in March.
Binance is also under scrutiny US Internal Revenue Service On concerns about poor adherence to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) controls.
Zhao, also known as CZ, tweeted “4” in response to the CFTC’s allegations — his own code for reporting things he doesn’t agree with.
As of Friday afternoon, CZ has not tweeted about the Justice Department investigation.
Separately, in a blog post ahead of the news on Friday, Binance addressed Its compliance policies to prevent and combat crypto-based financing of terrorism.
Binance said it takes the issue seriously, adding that it is not aware of any exchange or other financial institution that “does more today Than Binance to keep bad actors off their platform.
Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
