Binance probed by U.S. federal prosecutors for sanctions violations: Bloomberg

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the Justice Department are said to be investigating whether the crypto exchange knowingly permitted users to bypass U.S. sanctions on Iran.

U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether Binance violated sanctions on Iran by not halting specific trading activities on its platform, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is responsible for the investigation into the world’s largest crypto exchange’s compliance efforts, according to the people, who asked not to be identified.

The Department of Justice’s criminal division in Washington, D.C. is collaborating with the investigation aimed at discovering whether Binance allowed trading to proceed despite being aware that it violated sanctions laws, one of the people said.

"We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for sanctions violations,” a Binance spokesperson said by email. “We fully cooperate with law enforcement, and we remain committed to rooting out and shutting down bad actors."

The Justice Department and Manhattan's attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.

Binance has been on the U.S. government’s radar in the past. It pleaded guilty to banking compliance violations in 2023, when it agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines.

Since then, the company has sought to emphasize its cooperation with law enforcement and regulators. The company said in a blog post in February that more than 1,500 people, or about 25% of its global headcount, worked on compliance.

In March, Binance filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, after the newspaper published a report claiming the U.S. Justice Department was investigating whether Iran used the platform to move funds in violation of American sanctions.

Richard Teng, Binance co-CEO, accused the Wall Street Journal of "inaccurate reporting about our compliance program” at the time.

In April, the New York Times reported that Binance made it more difficult for law enforcement officials in several countries to obtain user information, making it harder to find scammers and combat money laundering.

Binance has continuously affirmed it has never permitted transactions with people who were under sanctions and has pledged to continue cooperation with authorities.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, initiated a probe in February into alleged sanctions violations at Binance to the tune of $1.7 billion. Binance responded to the allegations, saying it found no evidence to support the accusations.

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