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Article: Binance sues WSJ, panicked by gov’t probes into sanctioned crypto transfers

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5 / 10

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Binance is suing The Wall Street Journal for defamation, alleging a report falsely accused the exchange of retaliating against compliance staff who flagged $1.7 billion in transfers to Iran-backed groups. The lawsuit aims to correct the record amid new government probes from the Justice and Treasury Departments and a congressional inquiry.

The article states Binance dismantled an internal investigation into the unlawful transfers, which violated U.S. sanctions. The company claims the Journal's report was a "sham" investigation that ignored its statements.

Binance argues the reputational damage is severe as it tries to rebuild compliance after a 2023 settlement where it admitted to violations, paid a $4.3 billion fine, and saw its founder plead guilty.

The main topics covered are Binance's defamation lawsuit, the alleged sanctions violations and internal investigation, the ensuing government probes, and Binance's past legal settlement.

Original URL

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/binance-sues-wsj-over-report-sparking-government-probes-into-exchange/

Source Feed

Ars Technica

Published Date

2026-03-11 18:04

Fetched Date

2026-03-11 15:30

Processed Date

2026-03-11 15:32

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Present

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Binance is hoping that suing The Wall Street Journal for defamation might help shake off a fresh round of government probes into how the cryptocurrency exchange failed to detect $1.7 billion in transfers to a network that was funding Iran-backed terror groups.
The lawsuit comes after a Wall Street Journal investigation, based on conversations with insiders and reviews of internal documents, reported that Binance had quietly dismantled its own investigation into the unlawful transfers and then fired compliance staff who initially flagged them.
Alleging that the report falsely accused Binance of retaliation—among 10 other allegedly false claims—Binance accused the Journal of conducting a “sham” investigation that intentionally disregarded the company’s statements. That included supposedly failing to note that Binance had not closed its investigation into the unlawful transfers.
Binance’s role in the large-scale violation of US sanctions laws is currently being investigated by the Justice and Treasury Departments. Congress members also took notice, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), who launched an additional inquiry. In a letter to Binance CEO Richard Teng, Blumenthal cited the Journal’s report, as well as reporting from The New York Times and Fortune, while demanding that Binance explain how it managed to overlook the money-laundering for so long and why compliance staff members were fired.
In its complaint Wednesday, Binance claimed that these probes may “be just the tip of the iceberg” if the record is not corrected. The reputational harm is particularly damaging, the exchange noted, since Binance has allegedly worked hard to strengthen its compliance after reaching a settlement with the US government in 2023. In taking that plea deal, Binance admitted to violating anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws, paid a $4.3 billion fine, and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, eventually pled guilty to a related charge.