US DoJ Seeks Matches From Binance Crypto Money Laundering Investigation

U.S. Federal prosecutors have searched Binance's extensive internal records on anti-money laundering checks and communications involving its leader and founder Changpeng Zhao, Reuters reports citing a written request of 2020.

The Justice Department's Money Laundering Section has urged Binance to pass on messages from Zhao and 12 other executives and partners on issues including the exchange's detection of transactions illegal activities and the recruitment of American clients.

He also searched company records with instructions that "documents should be destroyed, altered, or deleted from Binance's files" or "transferred from the United States."

The December 2020 request was part of an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Binance's compliance with US financial crime laws.

Previously, Binance denied a Reuters story of allegedly laundering stolen cryptocurrencies worth $2.4 billion through its platform between 2017 and 2021.

In a blog titled "The myth of crypto money laundering and the machine working overtime to sell a false narrative", Binance called the Reuters report "full of lies which relied on massive leaps to conclusions and lackluster data.

The report cites Lazarus, Hydra and Eterbase as different cases of money laundering. The Lazarus attacks involved $1.75 billion stolen through Binance to fuel nuclear weapons programs in North Korea.

The group was held responsible for the Ronin sidechain attack and Eterbase hack, involving the theft of $5.4 million. Darknet platform Hydra has also funded $780 million worth of drugs through Binance. The US Department of Justice, in conjunction with German law enforcement, subsequently seized their servers.

U.S. authorities are reportedly investigating Binance's violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. The law requires crypto exchanges to register with the Treasury Department and comply with anti-money laundering requirements if they conduct "substantial" business in the United States.

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