TLDR
- Richard Teng, Binance’s CEO, has threatened legal action against the Wall Street Journal for defamation following claims the platform terminated investigators who discovered $1.7 billion in transactions to Iranian entities.
- Multiple major publications including WSJ, New York Times, and Fortune published reports suggesting Binance dismissed or suspended compliance personnel who identified sanctions breaches.
- The exchange contends these employees left voluntarily and denies terminating anyone for flagging compliance issues, with internal audits revealing no sanctions infractions.
- Senator Richard Blumenthal has launched a formal investigation into Binance regarding the purported sanctions violations.
- Changpeng Zhao, the former chief executive recently pardoned by President Trump, addressed attendees at a cryptocurrency event and expressed Binance.US’s intention to grow its American presence.
Richard Teng, chief executive of Binance, publicly challenged the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, alleging defamation following the publication’s report that the cryptocurrency platform terminated workers who discovered approximately $1 billion in transfers to Iran-connected organizations.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Teng characterized the journalism as “inaccurate” and shared correspondence from Binance’s legal representatives at Withers Bergman addressed to WSJ’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker. The communication demanded complete retraction and prompt correction of what the firm described as “false and defamatory” allegations.
The controversial WSJ piece, released Monday, claimed Binance’s internal investigators had traced funds flowing to “a network funding Iran-backed terror groups.” According to the report, the exchange subsequently shut down the investigation and terminated the personnel involved.
The New York Times released a comparable investigation on the same date, asserting that $1.7 billion had transferred from two Binance-controlled accounts to Iranian organizations with alleged terrorist connections. Fortune magazine had earlier published a connected piece on February 13, making similar accusations about sanctions breaches and staff terminations.
Binance has disputed all three publications’ narratives. A company representative stated that an internal examination “did not find evidence of violations of applicable sanctions laws or regulations related to the transactions described.”
Exchange Insists Compliance Staff Departed Voluntarily
Binance asserts that the four compliance professionals at the center of the controversy left the company of their own accord. The platform claims they were not terminated for escalating sanctions-related concerns, and that suspicious transactions were identified and reported following established protocols.
“This is evidence that our controls are working, not the opposite,” a Binance spokesperson told CoinDesk.
The WSJ investigation, conversely, referenced internal Binance documentation and sources with knowledge of company activities who claimed the same patterns of behavior that resulted in Binance’s 2023 Department of Justice agreement have persisted at the platform.
That 2023 resolution required Binance to remit $4.3 billion in penalties and saw founder Changpeng Zhao enter a guilty plea to one charge of failing to establish an adequate Anti-Money Laundering framework.
The WSJ further claimed that $1.7 billion moved from Chinese clients registered with Binance to Iran-supported organizations, including Yemen’s Houthi fighters, throughout 2024 and 2025.
US Senator Initiates Official Binance Investigation
Late Tuesday evening, Senator Richard Blumenthal dispatched correspondence to Teng initiating an official inquiry into the accusations. He demanded documentation concerning Binance’s interactions with two Hong Kong-based entities that investigators pinpointed as the origin of transfers to Iran.
Spokesperson Rachel Conlan informed the New York Times that a comprehensive report would be submitted to the US Justice Department on February 25.
In a Sunday blog entry, Binance stated that its “sanctions-related exposure is minimal” and characterized recent media coverage as “distorted” and rooted in assertions from “disgruntled former employees.”
Changpeng Zhao, the former chief executive who was granted a presidential pardon by Donald Trump, participated in a cryptocurrency conference last week hosted by Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial, where he announced Binance.US’s plans to broaden its American operations.
