Binance and its founder Changepeng Zhao have been charged with violating “a slew of U.S. securities laws,” according to The Associated Press.
“Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
Charges include operating as an unregistered exchange and misusing investor funds — conduct strikingly similar to what landed FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, in hot water.
Funds from Binance customers were allegedly routed through Sigma Chain, another company owned by Zhao. FTX allegedly did similar maneuvers with their customers’ funds and Alameda Research, an investment firm owned by Bankman-Fried.
Investigators also uncovered potentially damning admissions from Binance officials.
“Binance’s CCO bluntly admitted to another Binance compliance officer in December 2018, ‘we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro’” the lawsuit reads.
Binance said in a social media post that it has been cooperating with the SEC’s investigation but said that the SEC “chose to act unilaterally and litigate.”
“While we take the SEC’s allegations seriously, they should not be the subject of an SEC enforcement action, let alone on an emergency basis. We intend to defend our platform vigorously,” the company said.
