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Policy

U.S. Senators Tell DOJ to Investigate Binance for Potentially Lying to Lawmakers: Bloomberg

Two senate democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, allege in a letter that the platform may have lied about Binance.US being an independent entity.

By Sandali Handagama
AccessTimeIconJun 8, 2023 at 12:17 p.m. UTC
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Crypto exchange Binance may have lied to lawmakers about its business practices and must be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bloomberg reported, citing a letter from two Senate democrats.

Senators Elizabeth Warren and (D-Mass.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md), in their letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleged the crypto exchange may have made false statements, including whether its affiliate Binance.US was indeed a separate entity as Binance had claimed.

On Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, alleging the sale of unregistered securities, commingling of customer funds, and that CZ was "secretly" controlling Binance.US.

“This is a serious matter,” the lawmakers reportedly wrote in Wednesday's letter.

In March, Warren and Hollen called the exchange a "hotbed of illegal financial activity," in a letter to CZ and Binance.US, requesting information on the entity's financials and anti-money laundering measures.

"While Mr. Zhao has claimed that Binance.US, is a “fully independent entity,” in reality, he controls the company as a “de facto subsidiary” of Binance," the letter from March said.

Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more: Binance a 'Hotbed of Illegal Financial Activity,' U.S. Senators Claim

Edited by Parikshit Mishra.

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Sandali Handagama
Sandali Handagama

Sandali Handagama is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for policy and regulations, EMEA. She does not own any crypto.

Follow @iamsandali on Twitter

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