That would be a severe low blow after the wave of collapses in the crypto world. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors are considering criminal actions Binance, Reuters reports. Since 2018 prosecutors investigated Binance for unlicensed money transmission, money laundering conspiracy, and criminal sanctions violations. Some of the prosecutors believe the evidence already gathered justifies moving aggressively against the exchange and filing criminal charges against individual executives, including founder Changpeng Zhao.
However, according to the Reuters report, other prosecutors in the team would like to review more evidence before taking action. The inquiry involves prosecutors at three Justice Department offices: the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, and the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. Justice Department regulations say that money laundering charges against a financial institution must be approved by the MLARS chief.
A Binance spokesperson said, “We don’t have any insight into the inner workings of the US Justice Department, nor would it be appropriate for us to comment if we did.” The Justice Department declined to comment.
