The court has listed the pending charges against Binance and CZ.
A federal court released an indictment under seal on November 14 against Binance and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, in which the United States government said the cryptocurrency exchange and CZ are expected to enter a guilty plea.
On Nov. 14 in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, the US government said it was asking the charges against Binance and CZ to be unsealed because the settlements from the exchange and its CEO, as well as regulatory settlements, had a “significant impact on the company, its customers and the global cryptocurrency markets.” He might have.” Authorities have charged CZ with one felony count of violating bank secrecy laws and failing to maintain an effective anti-counterfeiting program at Binance.
On the day of the appeals hearing, the government expects that the criminal rulings against defendant Zhao and defendant Binance will be announced concurrently with significant civil rulings by the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. [OFAC]the US Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network [FinCEN]and Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC]” says the November 14 filing, adding:
“Although Binance is not a publicly traded company, Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and news related to the criminal and civil liability of Zhao and Binance could have a significant impact on the trading of various cryptocurrencies.”
“Cryptocurrency markets are volatile, subject to significant changes based on external events,” the filing said. Here, given Binance and Zhao's position among participants in cryptocurrency and related markets, a simple federal criminal indictment against either would have significant market impact in itself.
When the crypto exchange collapsed in November 2022, the government compared the volatility in the price of Binance Coin (BNB) to FTX Token (FTT), and former CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried was indicted on federal fraud charges. SBF was subsequently found guilty of seven counts and faces sentencing in March 2024.
According to court records, lawyers representing Binance and CZ appeared in court on the morning of November 21 to discuss the motions and possible arrests for separate hearings. CZ's attorneys filed a sealed motion regarding the status of the Binance CEO pending sentencing in the case, but the contents were not available at the time of publication.
Related: Binance's $3.9B USDT Activity Gets Community Attention Amid DOJ Settlement Claims
The settlement of most of the criminal and civil cases against Binance and CZ in the United States is expected to be announced at 8:00 pm UTC on November 21 in a joint statement issued by the Department of Justice, the CFTC, and the Department of Justice. Treasury. According to several reports, CZ has agreed to plead guilty, and Binance will pay more than $4 billion as part of the settlement.
It was unclear at the time of publication if any part of the announcement was related to Binance's pending civil case with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In June, the regulator filed 13 charges against the crypto exchange, Binance.US and CZ, regarding violations of the Securities Act.
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