U.S. senators to oversee DOJ investigation of Binance over Iran-linked sanctions evasion

Three Democratic senators have said they will oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into crypto exchange Binance over possible violations of U.S. sanctions tied to Iran-linked transactions.

Summary

• Three Democratic senators said they will oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Binance was used to facilitate transactions linked to Iran and evade U.S. sanctions.
• The inquiry follows a Wall Street Journal report that federal investigators are examining more than $1 billion in crypto transfers that may have moved through the exchange.

In a joint statement released Thursday, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Ruben Gallego vowed to conduct oversight of the probe into Binance to “ensure the Department of Justice conducts a serious investigation into Binance and holds the company accountable for any wrongdoing.”

The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly launched a probe into Binance, according to The Wall Street Journal. The probe will examine whether the global crypto exchange was used to evade sanctions by allowing transactions linked to Iran-backed networks.

Investigators have reportedly contacted individuals familiar with the transactions to secure evidence on how the funds moved through the exchange.

Binance has yet to acknowledge the latest DOJ investigation and maintains that it has cooperated with law enforcement during previous inquiries before shutting down accounts linked to the transactions.

However, the senators remain unconvinced and said that the exchange has an “established track record of putting profits ahead of the law.”

“Recent reports raise serious concerns that the firm is again violating U.S. sanctions laws, recklessly helping bankroll the activities of terrorist groups connected to Iran,” they added.

Binance Vs WSJ

A separate report from The Wall Street Journal published last month claimed that Binance had fired internal staff who flagged $1 billion worth of crypto transactions tied to sanctioned Iranian entities.

Binance denied those allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against the publication.

The latest scrutiny into Binance follows the company’s guilty plea in 2023 for violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws in the U.S. Subsequently, it had to pay a record $4.3 billion fine and agreed to operate under U.S. regulatory oversight.

Binance’s CEO at the time, Changpeng Zhao, had to step down from his role following his own guilty plea and served four months in prison.

Zhao was later pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump, which became another flashpoint in Washington as Senator Warren criticized the decision.