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Binance Enters 5-Year Monitorship, Triggers ‘Historic’ Penalty

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange will undergo five years of supervision by a government-approved monitor after transmitting money without a license and handling payments for counterparties in Iran and other prohibited nations, U.S. officials announced Tuesday.

Binance Holding Ltd.’s consent orders with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Commodity Futures Trading Commission and settlements with the Office of Foreign Assets Control and Justice Department carry a “historic” $4.3 billion in combined penalties, forfeitures and fines against the exchange, whose founder and chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, agreed to step down Tuesday after pleading guilty in Seattle to money laundering.

Binance admitted to deliberately failing to vet thousands of customers for anti-money laundering purposes from August 2017 through October 2022, and identify and report more than 100,000 transactions potentially linked to terrorism, ransomware attacks, child sexual exploitation and other crimes.

The independent monitor will have access to Binance’s books, records and systems to ensure the company remediates these failures, remains in compliance with U.S. law and completely exits the U.S. market.

“Today, I stepped down as CEO of Binance,” Zhao posted Tuesday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility.”

Richard Teng, Binance’s former head of regional markets and former head of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in Abu Dhabi, will take over as CEO, Zhao wrote on X.

Moneylaundering.com may update this coverage as more information becomes available.
Topics : Anti-money laundering , Cryptocurrencies , Sanctions
Source: U.S.: Department of Justice , U.S.: OFAC , U.S.: FinCEN
Document Date: November 21, 2023