Cynthia Lummis leads the call for DOJ action against Binance and Tether.
Crypto activist Cynthia Lammis, who represents Wyoming in the United States Senate, has called for the United States Department of Justice to file charges against crypto exchange Binance following the terrorist group Hamas' attacks on Israel.
On October 26, US Attorney General Merrick Garland of Lammis and Arkansas Representative French Hill urged Justice Department officials to “indict Binance” and “expeditiously conclude” investigations into alleged wrongdoing related to Tether. The two lawmakers' comments came after Hamas launched a coordinated attack on Israel on October 7, suggesting it supports “massive terrorist financing” in part through illegal crypto transactions.
“We urge the Department of Justice to carefully review the extent to which Binance and Tether are providing material support and resources to support terrorism in violation of applicable embargo laws and the Bank Secrecy Act,” Lummis and Hill said. “To that end, we strongly support the Department of Justice's swift action against Binance and Tether to suppress the financial resources of terrorists currently targeting Israel.”
When it comes to illicit finance, crypto isn't the enemy – it's the bad actors.
I sent a letter asking the DOJ to complete its investigation and file criminal charges against Binance and Tether after reports that they acted as proxies for Hamas and engaged in illegal activities. pic.twitter.com/M3KGNFkpWc
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) October 26, 2023
The letter from Lummis, a Bitcoiner and supporter of crypto legislation in Congress, and Hill, chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, echoed the comments of Senator Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers linking crypto payments to terrorist activities. Unlike Warren, however, the two Republican lawmakers have ordered the Justice Department to focus on “bad actors” — in this case, including Binance and Tether.
“[W]Care must be taken not to paint all crypto asset intermediaries as suspect when a few bad actors use them for nefarious purposes,” the letter said. “Many crypto asset intermediaries seek to comply with US sanctions and anti-money laundering laws, seeing the regulations as necessary to unlock the promise of crypto assets and distributed ledger technology.
Related: Advocacy groups pressurize Sen. Warren for linking crypto to terrorism
In response to the October 7 attack, crypto exchange Binance suspended Hamas-linked accounts at the request of Israeli law enforcement. However, Lummis and Hill called this action insufficient after the fact that the exchange allowed terrorist groups to do business or was “willfully blind” in doing so. They filed a similar charge against Tether for “knowingly facilitating violations of applicable sanctions laws.”
“Although some reports say that Binance is now cooperating with Israeli law enforcement, this does not amount to criminal liability because Binance is doing this after knowingly allowing it to be used by terrorist organizations and being caught.”
On October 25, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said in a statement to US lawmakers and the media that there is “no evidence” that Hamas has received large amounts of crypto payments to support its attacks on Israel. Compared to the millions of dollars requested by other media outlets, Elliptic raised just $21,000 for one Hamas-affiliated campaign after the October 7 attacks.
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