The US Department of Justice’s national security division is investigating whether Binance allowed Russian customers to access the exchange in violation of US sanctions related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Bloomberg reports citing five people familiar with the matter.
The Justice Department inquiry is another high-profile action against Binance after a 2021 joint investigation with the Internal Revenue Service against the global exchange. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also been investigating Binance for its relationship with two companies owned by its founder Changpeng Zhao since early 2022.
Spokespeople for Binance and the Justice Department did not immediately return requests for comment.
The Justice Department declined a Bloomberg request for comment.
A Binance statement to Bloomberg said the company is in full compliance with all US and international financial sanctions.
In late March 2023, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance alleging the company knowingly offered unregistered crypto derivatives products in the US against federal law.
The exchange has repeatedly pushed back against the allegations by saying it has built the world’s largest compliance team in the space – a 700-member team that “addresses 1,300 law enforcement requests on a weekly basis,” according to to the head of obedience Tigran Gambaryan.
In recent days, Binance said it figured out how to keep the North Koreans out of its crypto exchange by kicking “enough of their a** that they really recognized that Binance wasn’t the place for them .”
Additionally, in early May 2023, Israel reportedly disclosed that it had seized approximately 190 Binance accounts with alleged ties to terrorist groups, including two ISIS accounts. Since neither Israel nor Binance has explicitly said that Binance cooperated, it is unclear how Israel seized the Binance accounts without Binance’s cooperation, as Binance is not obligated to comply with Israeli laws.
