DOJ investigating Binance for possibly helping skirt Russia sanctions
Binance has a new set of eyes on its deals, this time owned by the US Department of Justice.
Bloomberg(opens in a new tab) reported that the crypto exchange (currently the largest in the world) is facing a DOJ investigation for possibly allowing Russians to move funds in a way that would violate US sanctions. According to Bloomberg’s report, Binance has also spoken to the DOJ about older, similar complaints related to sanctions against Iran.
Binance ran away from the FTX deal. The US Department of Justice wants to know why.
Binance, of course, denied any wrongdoing in a statement. The company stressed that in 2021 it “launched an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure” to comply with international sanctions.
It is worth noting that no formal charges have been filed against Binance as this is just an investigation. Allegations can take time to manifest—if they do manifest at all. In 2021, Binance was subjected to a similar scrutiny(opens in a new tab) in connection with possible money laundering.
Binance became the world’s largest crypto exchange late last year when FTX infamously collapsed. At one point, Binance planned to bail out FTX financially, but that eventually fell through(opens in a new tab).
In any case, it never gets boring in the crypto world.
