US Court Approves Binance Fine, Ending Lawsuit with CFTC

US court approves Binance fine, ending lawsuit with CFTC

According to an announcement from the CFTC, Binance and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have finally reached an agreement to close the lawsuit from March in the Northern District of Illinois court. After nearly a month, Binance sought to reach a common voice with US officials.

Federal Court Enters Order Against Binance and Former CEO, Zhao, Concluding CFTC Enforcement Action: https://t.co/YJD1lglbsZ

— CFTC (@CFTC) December 18, 2023

According to the results approved by judge Manish Shah, Binance must pay a $1.35 billion fine to the CFTC and eliminate $1.35 billion in illicit transaction fees. At the same time, the separate fine for the former CEO of the exchange, Mr. Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is 150 million USD. He must also pay one-third of this amount within the next 30 days.

Binance’s former Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim also had to pay a civil penalty of $1.5 million. Because he assisted Binance in violating and evading US law.

It should be noted that this $2.7 billion fine is part of the $4.3 billion settlement that Binance reached with the CFTC last month.

The court clarified in its December 18 announcement that it was under the direction of Changpeng Zhao. Binance has attracted US customers who, despite being well aware of the regulations, still ignore them.

Along with that, officials required Binance and Mr. Zhao to establish a corporate governance structure including a board of directors with independent members, a compliance committee and an audit committee.

CFTC sued Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao on March 27 for allegedly violating derivatives trading regulations. The allegation states that Binance processed transactions of organizations designated as terrorist by the US and provided services to users from banned platforms.

The agency also accused Binance of operating a separate trading unit of 300 accounts, all directly or indirectly under the leadership of Changpeng Zhao. It has now been nearly 9 months since this legal case broke out. After many protests and denials of accusations, the result has come.

Legal boundaries for Binance are gradually being removed. The US government has accepted the end of the investigation into Binance through an agreement to pay a fine of up to 4.3 billion USD. Mr. Zhao also admitted violations and separately paid a fine of $50 million, and resigned as CEO as part of a settlement agreement with authorities.

CZ also stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Binance.US last week, completely removing his influence over Binance’s US branch. He is currently being held in the US and waiting for his trial scheduled to take place in February 2024 with a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison.