In a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Zhao is facing immense pressure as the SEC listed 13 charges against the USA-based crypto exchange, himself as the CEO and the operator of Binance’s purportedly independent US exchange.

Allegedly, Binance inflated its trading volumes which affected consumer funds, alongside failing to restrict U.S. customers from trading on its platforms and misleading investors about its market surveillance initiatives.

The billionaire founder, regarded as one of the most high-profile crypto people, is alleged to have secretly controlled the money and assets of traders and diverted investor funds as pleased. The SEC also alleges Zhao and the renowned exchange to have engaged in wash trading which artificially boosted trading volume of digital assets on the Binance.US platform, which is effectively led by Zhao.

Binance blogged on the matter to voice its stance, stating that the exchange intends to defend its platform “vigorously”, and that “because Binance is not a US exchange, the SEC’s actions are limited in reach.” The blog also states that any “allegations that user assets on the Binance.US platform have ever been at risk are simply wrong.”

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-sues-binance-in-us-district-court-for-unregistered-securities-operations

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-sec-sues-binance-founder-zhao-alleging-securities-law-violations-2023-06-05/

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/business/sec-binance-charges.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/05/binance-sued-sec-cryptocurrency-accused-mishandling-funds

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23749596/sec-binance-lawsuit-crypto-exchange-allegations

https://www.axios.com/2023/06/05/sec-sues-crypto-giant-binance-and-its-ceo

https://www.dawn.com/news/1758115

https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=8344309-0--15324.pdf&type=application/pdf