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The deal ends the Department of Justice’s three-year investigation of Binance and comes months after the firm was accused by regulators of operating as an unregistered securities exchange.
Zhao’s departure marks the end of an era for one of the crypto industry’s longest standing titans, who for years sparred with regulators en route to Binance becoming the largest crypto exchange in the world.
Zhao was also an original investor in FTX, the beleaguered crypto exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted at trial of seven counts of fraud and money laundering earlier this month.
Court papers filed by the government say that Binance chose not to implement anti-money laundering measures, essentially allowing the firm to become a clearinghouse for all manner of illicit financial transactions. Between 2018 and 2022, that led to nearly $900 million in financial transactions that violated sanctions against Iran, the court papers charge.
In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission came after Binance and Coinbase, another crypto exchange, asking Binance to freeze all assets on its U.S. platform and accusing Coinbase of acting as a securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.
This is developing story. It will be updated.
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