The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance, CEO Changpeng Zhao and former Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) Samuel Lim.
CFTC, March 27 with the lawsuit filed on Binance, CEO CZ And ex CCO Limaccused of many violations of legislation. To US customers unregistered futures transactions And option contracts While there were many accusations, the CFTC based the violations in Signal messages. Most cited in the indictment attention attractive 7 messages was compiled as follows:
OFAC Problem
According to the CFTC’s claims, former CCO Lim 2018 Binance in the USA is operating indicating acceptance in expressions found. CFTC, Binance willful aspect From the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) controls to run away that you are working He claimed, citing the following statements of the former CCO:
As CCO, I would never sign OFAC’s damn deal.
With $600 but…
allegedly in February 2019 A conversation between Lim and a team member, terrorist organization from Hamas It was about the transactions thought to come to Binance:
CCO: They send small amounts as large amounts constitute a money laundering offence.
Worker: They can barely buy an AK47 for $600.
Between KYC CZ’s Lips
According to another quote Lim, January 2019 on Binance main site applied on Know Your Customer (KYC) CEO CZ’s about the procedure not very willing stated:
CZ does not want to launch US KYC practices on Binance.com.
US Customers Should Be Much More Than You Think
Former CCO, for customers who did not complete KYC procedures in 2019 2 Bitcoins (BTC) worth transaction limit US customers who have not verified their KYC transactions available data since it means much more and that these customers are most likely that you are using a VPN expressed it in the following terms:
We have many more customers in the USA than you might think. They should be smarter and use non-US IPs with VPN.
We Have Practices Contrary to US Regulations
CEO’s US regulations Another message quoted about countries with sanctions It was about. CZ on the subject in the following expressions found:
The United States has an extensive list of laws and enforcement parties to deter terrorism and money laundering. If we want to comply with these laws, we should not operate in the 28 US-sanctioned countries, but this is not in line with our company’s business model. The dilemma here is pretty clear we cannot serve US customers unless we want to impose US sanctions. To be clear, I do not find this practice of the USA reasonable, they should not impose an exception on us. Currently, we have many applications that are incompatible with the US.
We Aren’t So Conservative About VPNs
Former CCO, in March 2019 VPN via Binance customers who reach too much about not being conservative published on this subject guides even that the US is blocking access to the site. it won’t be much of a problem suggested:
We are not very protective about VPN. We even have a goddamn guide published on this topic. Because of this, CZ doesn’t worry too much about the possibility of being blocked from the USA.
We Must Win U.S. Customers Discreetly
Lim, from the USA customers gain About these customers open Open to Binance they can’t pull more for this creative ways He said there should be:
We cannot tell from the outside that we are trying to win over US customers. More creative ways must be found for this.
Who is the Chicago-based Giant Client?
Another quote taken into consideration is a API about the event based in Chicago increasingly big CZ’s notification about the incoming notification that a customer is also affected by the issue. his reaction it happened.
CEO, customer from US IP not connected to be sure for them a warning only be sent in the back while this is done. be careful not to leave any written evidence said it should:
Give them a warning to make sure they don’t connect from a US IP. Do not leave anything in writing.
By Saying USA, You Mean USA
In a 2020 message from CCO Lim, “USA” of the expression clearly variety of use legal troubles In cases where “USA” should be used for this reason, “unknown” preference for the healthier It was seen that he stated that:
Even the keyword “USA” is a sensitive word in the current situation. When we express the USA, we have to use the category of “unknown”.